It Will Rain
by Eastendersfan444
Summary: Set after Repercussions and Consequences. Lauren and Joey have been married for 16 years, they have four children, a beautiful house, and successful businesses Their life appears to be perfect. But Lauren starts to go through some changes and Joey, well Joey makes what could be the biggest mistake of his life. Will it rain or will the sun shine break through?
1. Chapter 1

Lauren Branning was happy. Lauren was 39 years old and she had a 4 beautiful children, Hope who was turning 18 soon, the twins, Sophie and James who were 15 and Connor who was 13 and a loving devoted husband, Joey Branning who was 42.

She lived in a beautiful 5 bedroom house just outside of Walford. Her parents were both still alive and happy, although, if you asked her she thought their happiness was due to the fact that they had finally gotten divorced and were now living separately, they did appear, however to be the best of friends now though. Her parents doted on their grandkids. James was Max's pride and joy and the little boy doted on his grandfather. Lauren's relationship with her mother improved 100% and the two women were now very close. Sarah was also still alive and she had moved to Albert Square shortly after the twins were born to help Lauren and Joey out. It was only supposed to be for a few months but Sarah had never left, which pleased Joey and Alice especially.

Uncle Jack had eventually married Sharon after a couple of attempts and they were both happily living in America.

Dot had died a few months earlier and was laid to rest next to her beloved Jim. A lot of people had come to the funeral, old and new residents of Albert Square had turned out to give Dot a good east end send off. There did appear to be some tensions when Grant Mitchell came…he was Phil's younger brother and had been married to Sharon, but the tension was soon short lived.

Cora was still going strong. Max had joked that she would outlive all of them, and then added well him at least, to which his grandmother had replied to him 'I have been waiting a long time to dance on your grave Max Branning. I can wait a little bit longer'

Alice had married Lucas and they had 2 children of their own Samuel and Tristan both 10 now. And Abi was travelling, something that she had always wanted to do and Lauren and Joey had money so they paid for her travel the globe. Abi sent them regular letters and photographs of her travels, Lauren always made the time to write back to her sister. She missed her so much.

Alfie and Kat had reunited and remarried and were still Landlord and Landlady of the Queen Vic. Not that they didn't have their fair share of arguments, they did, some of them even in front of a pub full of punters, but they remained together and very much in love.

Whitney and Tyler had married a few years after Lauren and Joey but their marriage only lasted 18 months. Tyler wanted kids and Whitney didn't. She loved children but she didn't want any of her own. Tyler was devastated by the break up. Even more so when Whitney announced that she was moving to Manchester as it was too hard to be around Tyler and not be with him. A couple of years later she had told Tyler that she and his brother Anthony had fallen in love and they were living together and she was expecting their first child, to say that Tyler was crushed was an understatement. His relationship with his brother was never the same after that.

Poppy and Fats lived in the square still, they were married, but Poppy was unable to have children. They doted on Joey's and Lauren's instead. They were Joey and Lauren's best friends. Along with Tyler.

Lucy Beale was also still living in the square. She had successfully rebuilt her businesses back up and her brother Peter had moved back from Cornwall to help her. Peter, Joey and Lauren were friends. Lauren was civil to Lucy but that was as far as their relationship went. Lauren had no desire to take it any further much to Lucy's disappointment. As far as Joey and Lucy were concerned. Joey made sure that he was never in the same room as her.

Lucy was single, sure she had boyfriends throughout the years but none of them were ever serious, not for her anyway, if anyone asked her it was because she was too busy with the business, truth was no one could compare to the fantasy of Joey that she had built up in her head. She still lived with her father, Ian, and she had 4 cats.

Oscar was still the apple of Lauren's eye even though he was in his 20's now. He visited often and still called her Lolly, and she still called him Buttmonkey, which, when they younger, Sophie and James thought was hysterical. Oscar didn't have a girlfriend, Joey had his suspicions that the young man was gay, Lauren had told him that she didn't care just as long as her baby brother was happy then she was happy.

Both Joey and Lauren had wanted to have more children, they loved the happiness and joy that their little ones gave them and the plan was to have more, maybe another 2 or three. Lauren had got pregnant another 3 times, but she miscarried twice, within the first three months. The third baby she carried to term, she had a very long difficult labour and then after 48 hours, Patrick Scott Branning was born. He weighed 8lbs and 5 ozs but he had only lived for three days, he had numerous heart problems, including 4 holes in his heart and no one had expected him to live that long, not even the doctors, they had only had him for 72 hours but they both loved him so much and missed him deeply. After that….Joey and Lauren decided that four was enough. Joey didn't want to put his wife through any more upset, nor himself for that matter.

To everyone who saw them they were the perfect family. They had been happily married for 16 years. Lauren was a successful Graphic Designer with her own company. She even ran a gallery on the side with some of her pictures on display. Mainly, though, she used it for a stepping stone into the art world for talented young people, she used her links with the college and had even set up a small scholarship for students who could not afford the course fees.

Joey had brought R&R from Phil Mitchell, and Phil had helped him secure other premises for more clubs throughout London and had helped me with setting up business plans. Joey managed a successful and profitable string of clubs. He didn't work behind the bar anymore though, except on rare occasions when his wife Lauren would join him, if they were really short staffed. Lauren would often design and promote club nights for him, they worked well together as a team.

They had shared everything, the housework, raising their children, although Lauren had mostly been the "bad cop" to his "good cop" and Lauren was happy with that. She understood that Joey had found it difficult to discipline his children after his life with his father.

One time Joey was babysitting the kids when Lauren was having an opening at the Gallery for another one of her protégé's she had discovered at the College and Joey had been watching football with James, he must have been about 8 or 9 at the time and James had ruined some of Laurens sketches when he had managed to get into her office, despite several stern warnings that he was not to go in there, he had managed to get in and had covered himself, the walls, the carpets, with a permanent marker, in the last hour before Joey realised that he was missing and very quiet.

Joey was furious with James and this had resulted in a well-deserved spanking, some harsh words and a scrubbing brush and some diluted nail polish remover to clean off the marker pen from James' skin. James was then put to bed without a story. Joey had closed the door and could hear the little boy crying in his bed.

Joey had then gone back down stairs and opened a bottle of scotch which is where Lauren found him when she came back home a few hours later. Joey had been so upset and angry with himself and he had cried that he had hurt the little boy and that his son would never forgive him. Lauren hated to see him so broken and upset but she hated even more that he was comparing himself to Derek. He had never been and never would be anything like his father. So she had gone upstairs and to see James. James had been asleep and when Lauren woke him, he looked at her with his sad brown eyes and told her that daddy hated him.

Lauren spent fifteen minutes assuring the little boy that he didn't and that his father was more upset about the whole thing than he was, which James was very surprised to hear. Lauren had then told James to go down stairs and apologise to his father for being naughty.

She followed him down the stairs and she watched from the doorway as James tentatively crossed the room to where Joey was sitting in the sofa.

'Daddy?' James said quietly.

Joey looked up at him 'what are you doing out of bed?' he asked him softly 'You have school in the morning you'll fall asleep in maths again'

'I wanted to say that I was sorry for being naughty daddy' James told him 'I know I shouldn't have been in mummy's office, I only went to look, I didn't mean to make such a mess, I'll pay for the carpets and walls to be cleaned out of my pocket money and the money I have saved' he told Joey. Joey felt his eyes fill with tears. 'I'm sorry I made you cross daddy. I love you and I promise I'll be a good boy from now on'

'I love you too James' Joey said 'Come here' he held his arms out the little boy who ran into them eagerly. 'And daddy is sorry that he spanked you'

'I deserved it' James replied softly and he kissed his father's cheek and hugged him tightly.

'Come on let's get you back to bed' Joey said to him 'I'll tell you that story you like'

'The one about how you saved mummy from the fire breathing dragon and you made her fall in love with you?'

'Yep that's the one' Joey smiled nodding his head.

Joey had kissed Lauren softly as he carried his son back up the stairs with a whispered "thank you"

Later that night, when they had gone to bed, he had made love to Lauren so gently and tenderly that she had fallen in love with her husband a little bit more.


	2. Chapter 2

Mealtimes in the Branning household was chaos more often than not. Lauren didn't usually mind the chaos but this morning she had a meeting with the Dean of the college to go through applications for the "Branning Artistic Scholarship" and she wanted to drop off some suits for Joey to be dry cleaned on the way there so she couldn't be late. And then after that she had to meet with her accountant to go through the books for the Gallery and her Graphic Design company.

She glanced at the clock again as she sipped her coffee at the breakfast bar. It had been fifteen minutes since she had yelled up the stairs that breakfast was ready and not one of her children had made an appearance. Joey had already left, he had an early morning meeting with some drinks reps who were new to the area and were looking to scout and catch some big client. Joey thought that if he could get the drinks cheaper he could use the spare money for something else.

Lauren slid of her stool, leaving her coffee cup on the bar and she walked through the house to the bottom of the stairs,

'Breakfast is ready!' she called out 'Hope, make sure that Sophie is up! James, Connor you both need your games kits today' she waited and no one replied. With a sigh she returned to the kitchen, surprised to find Connor sitting there eating some cereal. 'Where did you spring from?' she asked him

'Just back from a run' he told her with a smile. Connor was so much more like his father than James was, he had the same boyish good looks, the same dimples in his cheeks when he smiled, the exact same colour of eyes as Joey. He was just as much into fitness and running as Joey was. The two of them went running together every Saturday and Sunday morning.

'Do you want some toast?' Lauren asked him as she pushed his lunch bag towards him

'No thanks I'm good, I had some before I went out' he said 'Now I'm just topping up my energy' he grinned at her and Lauren nodded

'No one else up yet?' he glanced towards the door that led to the stairs

'Nope, Just you' she told him with a smile

Connor asked about his mother's plans for the day as he ate his breakfast, he was such a sweet boy, so much like his father. After he had eaten he clean up after himself, picked up his lunch bag. 'I'll just have a quick shower, I'll give the others a reminder about breakfast' he told her.

'Thanks Connor' Lauren smiled gratefully at her son.

Fifteen minutes later and none of her other children had appeared. Connor came back downstairs with his school bags and he kissed his mother on the cheek

I told them breakfast was ready. James was moving. Have a good day mum'

'Thank you. You too' she said

She gave the kids another 20 minutes and then she cleaned away the breakfast things. She got her car keys, bags and dry cleaning and she put them by the front door.

She heard the thundering steps of her children as they fought their way down the stairs.

'I thought you said breakfast was ready?' Hope said looking at the empty breakfast bar with a frown.

'It was an hour ago. Now breakfast is done' Lauren told them 'Connor's been up, had a run, had his breakfast and a shower and left for school 20 minutes ago which is where you three should be heading'

'I'm hungry' Hope said as Lauren gave Sophie and James their lunch bags.

'Take an apple you can eat it on the way to school' Lauren said.

'I don't want an apple, I want cereal and toast' Hope frowned at her mother as the twins picked up an apple with a smile. 'I'll fix it myself'

'No you won't. You are already cutting it fine to be at school on time' Lauren frowned at her

'I'll drive' Hope shrugged as she opened the cupboard and reached for the cereal.

'I'm taking the car today' Lauren reminded her

Hope sighed and slammed the cupboard door shut. 'What? Seriously?! You knew that I wanted the car today. I'm driving my friends to the West End after school'

'I told you three nights ago that I needed the car today when you asked me if you could borrow it. I told you that you and your friends would have to make alternate arrangements today'

'For fucks sake! Why are you always such a fucking selfish bitch' she turned on her mother with an angry glare.

Hope had inherited more than her fair share of the Branning Temper, more than Lauren and Joey had between them combined. Usually Lauren would let Hope's early morning bitchiness go but this morning she wasn't feeling too well and she had had enough.

'Do not talk to me like that Hope! I am your mother and you will treat me respect. You do not use that language in this house' Lauren snapped at her 'Keep pushing my buttons young lady and you won't have the car for a month' she frowned 'Now get to school! All of you'

Hope flicked her long dark brown hair over her shoulder 'Whatever' she dismissed Lauren casually 'Come on Sophie let's get out of this shithole' she draped her arm around her younger siblings shoulder as they walked towards the door. Lauren closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, she had a headache since she got up this morning and Hope had just made it twice as bad. She didn't see Hope swipe the car keys as she walked through the front door.

Lauren went upstairs and took some painkillers from the bathroom cabinet, she checked her hair and makeup in the mirror and then made her way downstairs. She picked up her bags and the dry cleaning and frowned when she couldn't find the car keys, after a quick search of the house, she opened the front door to find her car gone. She knew Hope had taken it.

Lauren was fuming. She called the Dean to let her know that she wouldn't be able to make today and rescheduled for Monday. She called for a taxi and paced the lounge floor as she waited for it to arrive. Joey's dry cleaning was left behind as Lauren instructed the taxi driver to go to the school. She asked the driver to park behind her car which she found in the car park and to wait for her and not move the taxi should any one ask him too.

Lauren walked through the corridors of the school and into the history class that she knew Hope would be in. The teacher stopped mid flow, the pupils in the class looked up to see why he had stopped and their eyes settled on a very pissed off Lauren.

'I'm sorry for interrupting I just need a quick word with Hope' Lauren said sweetly

'Of course' he nodded gesturing to the back for the room. Hope had sunk lower in her seat at the humiliation of her mother coming into school, into her class room.

'Thank you' Lauren turned to peruse the room, finding Hope she walked over to her and she held out her hand 'My car keys please' she said to her, 'Now' Hope sighed and rummaged in her bag until she found them, but instead of dropping them in her mother's open hand she dropped them on the floor. 'Pick them up' Lauren told her firmly

'Mum just go will you' Hope whispered at her

'I said Pick. Them. Up' Lauren told her again. Hope shifted in her seat, her face turning slightly pink and she picked up the keys and dropped them into Lauren's hand.

'Thank you' Lauren said 'Mobile phone please'

'Mum!' her daughter exclaimed.

'Now Hope!' Hope frowned but gave her mother her mobile phone

'You are grounded for 1 month with no pocket money, no mobile phone and most certainly no car privileges. You will come straight home after school and I will expect you to walk through the door at 3:30pm on the dot or so help me Hope I will come and find you and I will drag you back to the house and you will be grounded for four months' She told her daughter angrily 'Am I making myself clear?'

'Yes' Hope nodded her face now a bright shade of red.

'Good!' Lauren walked to the door of the classroom and she turned to look at her daughter who was squirming with humiliation in her chair '3:30pm Hope. I mean it!' she turned and marched out of the classroom.

On her way home she thought she saw Joey's car turning off a couple of streets before their house. They had made plans to have lunch together before they both had to rush off back to their jobs. He sighed and shook her head, there were plenty of cars that looked just like Joey's, maybe she was just eager to see him as he had left quite early this morning and got home very late last night She drove the short distance towards their house and parked the car in the drive.

Once she got inside she washed her hands and started to prepare lunch. Her mobile rang and she smiled when she it was Joey calling

'Hello you' she smiled

'Hi Babe, Listen I'm really sorry but I can't make lunch. Some things come up at the club, some paperwork has gone missing and I need it to try and claim back compensation from the company who fitted those near stools by the bar. I'm really sorry, I had hoped that I would have found it by now but I've turned the office upside down and it's nowhere to be found'

'It's okay. Do you want me to look here?'

'Would you? Babe that would be great' she heard some relief in his voice. 'I knew there was a reason that I loved you'

'Only one?' she asked him

'One of many' he replied 'Look I better go. I hope you haven't gone to too much trouble for lunch?'

'I had literally just started to throw a salad together' she told him

'Can we have tonight, eat after the kids have?' he asked her 'It'll just be the two of us. They've all got plans tonight'

'Yeah of course' Lauren said deciding against telling Joey about Hope. 'What time will you be home?'

'Around 8:00pm' he told her 'I love you'

'I love you too' she smiled and she hung up the phone.

She ate the tomato that she had chopped and then put everything back in the fridge. She had a couple of hours to kill before she needed to be at the gallery, so she started to look for Joey's papers, she found a recent receipt for a sapphire and diamond tennis bracelet and she smiled to herself at how romantic her husband was, her birthday was still a few months away but if she saw something that he knew she would like he would get it for her and hide it until the big reveal. After she couldn't find them she sent a quick text to Joey to tell him that she had been unsuccessful and then headed to the gallery.

Despite her busy afternoon she made sure that she was back in the house at 3:15pm to wait for Hope.

Lauren watched the clock as the minutes ticked passed.

3:25pm

3:26pm

3:27pm

3:28pm

3:29pm

3:30pm came and went. Lauren could feel her temper bubbling beneath the surface.

3:35pm

3:40pm

3:45pm

Lauren prayed to god that Hope would walk through that door before she decided to get up off the sofa to look for her because when she found her she wasn't sure she could be held accountable for her actions. She decided she would give her errant daughter another 5 minutes.

She looked at the clock 3:50pm

Lauren got up and grabbed her car keys and she opened the front door just as Hope walked into the drive. Hope said nothing as she edged passed her mother to get into the house. Lauren shut the door calmly and put her car keys in her pocket.

'What time do you call this?' she asked her daughter 'I told you to be here at 3:30pm exactly'

'I went for a coffee with some of my friends after last period' she replied 'I lost track of time' with a shrug

'Upstairs, in your room, do your homework, No TV, no music, no WIFI' Lauren told her 'and you can add another month onto your existing month that you are already grounded'

'Mum!' Hope exclaimed 'That is so not fair. All I did was take the car when it was my turn to take to fucking car!' she shouted at her mother 'Fuck! You are just the bitch from hell'

'Three months' Lauren said

'What the fuck?!'

'Do want four months Hope? Because I am more than happy to ground you for four months. I've told you to do something, now go and do it please' Lauren said

Hope glared at her mother 'I'm not a fucking child you know. Why do you always insist on treating me like one!'

'Because you are acting like one and that four months now Hope. Four months you will not leave this house unless it's to go to school. Four months that you will be without your mobile phone and without out WIFI. And since you appear to have difficulty finding your way home from school your father or I will drive you to school every day and pick you up every night for the next four months'

Hope opened her mouth to say something and thought better of it, she snatched her school bag off the kitchen table and stomped up the stairs. Lauren felt the house shake as Hope's bedroom door slammed shut.

Lauren's headache throbbed in her temples.

**AN: Just want to say a big thank you for the reviews to the last three of my stories. **

**So this is my new story. I hope you like it! **

**R&R as always **


	3. Chapter 3

Lauren's headache got worse as the afternoon progressed. The kids all arrived home at 5:30 and she sent James out to get a takeaway.

Hope came down a few minutes later expecting to see dinner almost ready.

'What's for dinner?' she asked her mother

'James has gone to get Chinese' she replied as she rubbed her head

'First no breakfast, then no dinner, throw in a little humiliation and that makes you a fucking shit mother with fucking shit mothering skills' she screamed at her 'When's daddy coming home?'

'Later' Lauren said quietly. Connor and Sophie looked at their mother and then at Hope.

Surprising all three of them, Lauren got up and she left the room, made her way up the stairs and she shut her bedroom door behind her.

'Good fucking riddance evil old bitch!' she heard Hope yell.

Lauren closed her eyes and pulled the duvet up over herself. She sometimes wondered what evil bad thing she had done in her life to have ended up with such a spiteful foul mouthed daughter like Hope. Of course Hope hadn't always been this way. She and Joey had gone out of their way to make sure that she didn't feel left out when the twins were born, she got extra treats and outings with just her and her mummy and daddy. Maybe that was it, maybe they had overcompensated and that was why their daughter was the way that she was. Either that or one night a long time ago she had been stolen away by evil goblins and they had left one of their own children in her place. Lauren smiled to herself, yeah that theory made a lot of sense. Her head pounded harder, she climbed out of bed took another two pills and then climbed back under the duvet.

Connor poked his head through the door 'Mum?' he asked quietly, Lauren peered out from under the duvet at him 'I was just checking to see if you were okay. We saved you some Chinese, it's in the fridge'

'Thank you but I'm jot that hungry' she told Connor

'Can I get you anything?'

'That's very sweet of you but no thank you darling. I just have a headache it'll go soon'

'Yeah it's called Hope' Connor said to her 'Sophie and James have gone they said they'll see you tomorrow night'

Lauren smiled and nodded 'You go and have fun with Ryan' she said softly 'Is Hope still here?'

'Yes she's waiting for dad to come home' he told her 'Hope you feel better soon mum' he said softly

'Thank you'

Connor closed the door and he left.

Lauren dozed, she woke up when she heard the front door close and suspected that Joey was home as she heard Hope turn on the waterworks. Half an hour later Joey came into the bedroom.

'Lauren?' he said softly. Lauren sighed and she rolled over in the bed and then sat up, she flicked on her bedside lamp. Joey sat down next to her on the bed. 'Are you okay? Hope said you had a headache?' he asked her 'that's what now three this week?' he said she he reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. 'Maybe you should see a doctor?' he asked her as his fingers lingered on her face.

'And did Hope tell you why I have a headache?' she asked him ignoring his last question.

'She mentioned something about you horribly embarrassing her in school and grounding her for a month'

'Four'

'What?' Joey frowned

'She's grounded for four months not one'

'Four months?' Joey raised his eyebrows at her 'Wow she must have done something really bad to get the maximum sentence'

'She took my car knowing full way that I needed it today, I told her three days that she couldn't have it and she swiped them and drove it school' Lauren told him 'I had to cancel the meeting with the Dean and now I have to do that Monday as well as everything else that I needed to do. And your dry cleaning didn't get taken in today either.'

Joey sighed 'Forget about the dry cleaning, I'll take it tomorrow. They're still open Saturdays right?'

'Yes' she nodded 'They are but that's not the point Joey! I make breakfast every morning and not one of them gets up when I call them, except for Connor of course, and then they complain that everything's cold. And Hope… the way she speaks to me sometimes… I swear to god that she's not that same sweet little baby that we brought home from the hospital'

Joey sighed 'Okay, I'll talk to her' he said softly

'If by talking to her to you mean undermining my punishments and telling her to give me a day or two to calm down that I'd really rather you didn't Joey'

'I'll tell her she has no phone'

'I've already taken that away, she grounded for four months, no phone, no WIFI and no pocket money and you or I will take her to and from school every day whilst she is grounded. She's supposed to be in her room doing her homework'

'Okay' Joey nodded his head 'why don't I go downstairs and heat up that Chinese hey?' he asked her 'Bring it up here with a nice little bottle of wine and we can have a picnic right here in our room. Then we can have a nice bath together?'

Lauren nodded 'That sounds perfect…but Hope'

'Leave Hope to me' he told her softly and he pressed a kiss to her lips.

'Okay' she said with a sigh.

Joey went downstairs and Hope looked at him expectantly 'Your mother filled in the blanks for me Hope' Joey told her as he went into the kitchen and started to heat up their food. 'I agree with her punishment'

'But daddy that's not fair. It was supposed to be the day that I had the car!'

'It's your mother's car Hope not yours. And yes we both agreed that you could use it when your mother didn't need it. She needed it today and you decided to steal it and drive it to school where it was going to sit in the car park all day, don't you think that's a little bit selfish Hope?'

'I didn't steal it' Hope blinked at him

'Taking without asking after specifically being told that you couldn't use it is the definition of stealing' Joey told her 'I will take you to school on Monday and pick you up'

'That bitch has brainwashed you' Hope snapped

'I beg your pardon?' Joey stopped what he was doing and he looked at his daughter 'What did you just call your mother?'

'Well she has! She's so unfair all the time. You're never here daddy! You don't see what she's like. She's mean and spiteful and she favours the others over me'

'I'm not listening to this anymore Hope' Joey told her firmly 'Your mother told you to go to your room and do your homework, so I suggest that you do what you've been asked to'

Hope glared at him and she turned and went up the stairs. She banged on her parent's bedroom door as she walked passed it 'I hate you!' she called through at Lauren.

'Yeah well the feeling is mutual!' Lauren replied under her breath, she heard Hope's door slam again and she sighed.

Joey came back into the room twenty minutes later with their food, the smell made Lauren's mouth water. Joey toed off his shoes and he locked their bedroom door, something that learnt to do when a couple of 3 year olds and a four year old had interrupted them early one morning when Joey and Lauren were having "grown up" time as Joey explained to them, but now locking the door was a more out of habit. Lauren was certain that none of her children would just burst into their bedroom first without knocking if they knew that both Lauren and Joey were in the room. Hope had made that mistake when she had come home from school one day when she was 14, and Joey and Lauren had snuck out of work for the day for a long pleasurable afternoon in bed. The poor child had been mortified not to mention traumatised to see her father's head buried between her mother's thighs. Later she had told Lauren that she was repulsed and disgusted and that she knew exactly what it was that she had witnessed her parents doing and she thought that it was disgusting that at their age they would even consider doing something like that. Lauren smiled as she remembered.

Joey crossed the room and she slipped back the duvet cover and Joey carefully got into the bed, he held the tray in the air while Lauren repositioned the duvet.

'Hope is in her room, hopefully doing her homework and I have told her that under no uncertain terms that they punishments you have given her are fair and will stand' he said to her

'Thank you' Lauren smiled

'Look, How about I take the week off next week? Jamie is always telling me that I never let him have any responsibility so I say he gets it all' Joey said to her 'I can help out here, take some of the pressure off of you'

'Really?' Lauren asked him with a smile 'You'd do that?'

'Yep' he nodded 'I would. I am, I'll call Jamie tomorrow and tell him that he's in charge' Joey told her 'Now eat your food before it gets cold' he said, he poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her

'Mmm thank you' she smiled and she took a long drink and closed her eyes and sighed happily 'Perfect'

After they had eaten, Joey picked up the tray and he put it on his bedside table. He got up and he went into the bathroom and he started the bath running, putting in Lauren's favourite jasmine and rose bath oil. Lauren had got out of bed and she rubbed her forehead

'Do you still have a headache babe?' he asked her softly as he came back into the room

'Mmm not so bad now, I think the food and the wine and the TLC from my very handsome husband is making it better' she said as his hands moved around her waist and she ran her hands up his chest and looped her arms around his neck

Joey smiled at her 'Good and the TLC isn't over yet' he told her softly 'I am running you a nice relaxing bath as promised' he said

'That sounds great' Lauren said with a smile 'and then what will you do?' she lowered her voice to a whisper as Joey lips moved towards hers

'I'll massage your neck and shoulders' he told her and he brushed his lips lightly against hers

'Wow, that would be amazing' she replied 'You have magic hands' she smiled 'and what else?' she asked him

Joey smiled at her 'well then I thought maybe you and I would have a little naked grown up time' he raised his eyebrows at her

'The perfect end to a horrendous day' Lauren whispered as she drew Joey into a kiss, they both moaned as the kiss deepened, and then suddenly Joey was pulling away from her,

'The bath' he said in explanation. He took Lauren's hand and he led her into the bathroom. He turned off the taps and checked the temperature and smiled. Lauren stripped off her clothes while Joey admired her body. 'God you still look at sexy as you did when we were younger' he told her 'No one would know that you had five children' he held her hand as she got into the bath. He stripped off his clothes and she shifted forward so that he could get in behind her. Lauren leant back against him and he wrapped his arms around her 'Have I told you lately how much I fancy you Mrs Branning?'

'Not since this morning' she smiled as she felt his lips nuzzling her neck.

'Not since this morning? Wow I'm slipping' Joey teased her 'I fancy you like crazy' he told her 'My heart still skips a beat when I see you, you still take my breath away' he said 'And these…' his hands moved to cup her breasts 'I still can't get enough of these, they are as firm and as pert as they were when you were 20 years old' he told her and then he smiled 'Jamie had a crush on you, you know' he told her

'He does?' Lauren turned her head to look at Joey

'Okay you could try not to sound and look so excited by that little fact' Joey scolded her 'He's only 23 you'd terrify the poor boy' Joey told her and he kissed her.

'I'm not interested in trading you in for a younger model yet' Lauren teased him 'You still have a few more miles on the clock yet and I haven't seen any grey hair so…'

'So the first grey hair I get you're dumping me?' Joey asked her

'Yep' Lauren nodded

'Well then it's a good job that I keep pulling them out before you can see them then isn't it hey?' he said

'Ah! You're keeping me here under false pretences' she said accusingly

Joey chuckled softly 'I am a bad man' he said 'If you like I can set you up on a date with Jamie' he told her

'Don't you dare!' Lauren squealed and she slapped him lightly on the thigh. Joey laughed loudly

'Do that again. It kind of turned me on!' they both laughed and then Lauren kissed him, sliding her tongue between his lips.

After the bath, Joey wrapped a towel around his waist and then wrapped another towel around Lauren, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom and he sat her down on the end of the bed and he moved behind her, he legs either side of hers, he started to massaged her neck and shoulders and she gave a low satisfied moan 'Mmm Joey that's so good' she told him

'Yeah? You're really tense babe' he told her

'More' she said when he stopped, he smiled and started to knead her tightened muscles again. She closed her eyes and let her head fall forward as Joey loosened all the little knots that he found. When he stopped again she didn't complain.

'You better not be going to sleep on me!' he warned her

'I am sleepy now' she admitted to him

'Is that so, well in that case I'd better make sure you stay awake hey?' he said and he moved off the bed and he stood in front of her and took her hands and pulled her to her feet. He undid her towel and let it drop to the floor, she smiled at him and she turned around and she crawled onto the bed, wiggling her bottom at him with a giggle before she turned over to lie on her back, Joey smiled and he followed her path and he looked down at her 'You are too sexy for your own good' he said to her softly as he bent down to kiss her.

She moaned loudly as he pushed his length inside her, Joey groaned when he was fully seated inside her 'God you are still so fucking tight Lauren!' he murmured against her neck, 'You feel so good babe' he told her and he started to kiss and suck her neck as he started to move. He kept his thrusts deliberately slow, building them both up slowly, making them both wait. He moved his head to flick his tongue over her nipple and she moaned softly.

'Joey!' she arched off the bed slightly, Joey rolled both of them and then sat up with Lauren, taking her nipple into his mouth, one hand cradled her back as she arched luxuriously against him, the other teased her breast as she lowered and raised herself onto his length slowly.

Lauren could feel her orgasm slowly building and she smiled and increased her pace a little, Joey's hands moved to her hips to slow her down, he moved forward and he kissed her, plunging his tongue into her mouth, their tongues duelled, mimicking the actions of their lower bodies, Lauren broke the kiss to breath and she tipped her head back as she felt the pleasure building. Joey looked at her, feeling himself close to coming.

'Oh…..oh…..Joey!' she exclaimed breathlessly 'Baby….Joey! Shit! Joey!' she looked at him again and kissed him, he rolled her onto her back and he shifted to look at her

'You ready for the big finish babe?' he asked grinned at her

'Always' she giggled softly and then squealed as he increased his rhythm.

Hope was passing by her parent's room on the way back from the kitchen when she heard low moans and groans coming from their room. She rolled her eyes, she was certain that no other kids at her school had parents who had sex as much as hers did. Their moans and groans got louder and Hope covered her ears and ran into her room.

'OH GOD JOEY!' she cried out loudly she rippled around him 'JOEY!'

'FUCK LAUREN!' Joey groaned as Lauren came hard around him, Joey followed.

'Okay give me twenty minutes and we can do that again' he told her breathlessly

'Twenty minutes? I remember when it used to be five' Lauren teased him, Joey went quiet and Lauren turned her head to look at him, 'Babe?'

'I'm up for the challenge if you are?' Joey said with a grin and he reached for her again.

**AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. **

**Thank you for your reviews. **

**As always R&R **


	4. Chapter 4

The next couple of months passed and Lauren started to feel worse. She had a vague idea what was wrong with her but she hadn't been to the doctors to have it officially diagnosed. She had googled it though and she had a few of the symptoms. Mood swings, loss of libido, fatigue, dizziness, really light periods and headaches. Lauren knew that she had to face up to things, that she was going through the change, and both her and Joey were working hard and were both tired when they came home from work and so their sex life had gone from healthy to non-existent, which if Lauren was honest she didn't really mind, she hadn't been in the mood for over a month anyway.

The fatigue made her tired before she even got out of bed in the mornings. She found that she was now prone to dozing off in the middle of the day, which she had done today at her desk in her office in the Gallery. She had woken up at 5:00pm and realised that she was late to pick the kids up from their school trip. She groaned and picked up her phone and found she had six missed calls. Five from Joey and one from Hope. She gathered up her things and locked up the gallery and made her way home.

She let herself into the house and saw a very unimpressed Joey waiting for her and her four kids sitting round the table with their dinner.

'I'm sorry' Lauren said to him 'I didn't realise the time' she told him deciding to miss out the part where she had slept for a little over four hours.

'That's just great Lauren' Joey said to her tossing the dish cloth on the breakfast bar with a frown 'You couldn't answer your phone?'

'I had it on silent. I was just trying to concentrate on the new artwork that Dean Grants sent over to me. I'm sorry Joey'

'I had a really important meeting Lauren that I got called out of because our children were left waiting for their mother to pick them up. That's really irresponsible Lauren'

'See this wouldn't have happened if I was allowed to have the car' Hope piped up from the table 'I could have picked everyone up' she said

'Well maybe if you hadn't have swiped the keys when I said no you could have had the car' Lauren replied testily

'You know Hope is right' Joey told her 'This wouldn't have happened if she had the car' he looked at Lauren and then he turned and looked at his eldest daughter 'you know what honey, the grounding is over, the punishment is finished' he said to her 'your mother will give you back your phone and you can share the car again but only when your mother isn't using it!' he told her firmly 'If your mother says no then you leave the car here' he told her

'Yes daddy' Hope said with a squeal and she leapt up and she hugged him tightly 'I love you daddy. So does this mean I can take the car and go out tonight?' she asked him

'Yes' Joey told her with a nod looking at Lauren, she grinned at him and she kissed his cheek. She gave a Lauren a "screw you" look as she poked her tongue out at her and before she went back to the table.

Lauren glared at Joey, furious at him for undermining her punishments again and for chastising her like a child in front of the kids.

'Well I'm here now why you don't get back to your meeting?' Lauren frowned at him

'It's a little late for that now' Joey frowned at her and he took a deep breath and he let it out slowly 'look I've made dinner, why don't you sit down and I'll fix you a plate'

'I'm not hungry' Lauren told him and she started to walk to the stairs

'Mum your car keys' Hope sprung up and she held her hand out for them. Lauren begrudgingly got them out of her pocket and dropped them on the floor. Hope blinked at her as Lauren disappeared through the door.

'Lauren! Hey Lauren!' Joey called after her. Lauren put her purse on the bed and she sat down with a sigh 'That was really immature Lauren' he told her

'Well I thought since you were treating me like one of the kids I'd starting acting like one' she looked up at him, Joey noticed she was rubbing her forehead again

'Have you got another headache?' she asked her in concern 'Maybe you should go to the doctors'

'You know what would help me not have a headache? You? Undermining me yet again Joey!' Lauren snapped at him 'She had two more months of being grounded of being punished and you revoke it. You always want to be the fucking good guy all the time and leave me to be the bad guy. And since when was your businesses more important than mine?' she frowned at him 'if it wasn't for me you wouldn't have even have had the money to be able to start up in the first place' Joey flinched as though she had slapped him, but Lauren wasn't finished 'and when was the last time that you were actually home before 8:30pm Joey? When was the last time that you picked the kids up from school or took them to their friends, when was the last time you went grocery shopping? Or took your own fucking dry cleaning to the laundrette hey? When was the last time other than tonight that you have actually cooked dinner for the kids, or for me?'

'Lauren…babe..' Joey said reaching for her

'Don't! Don't touch me!' she snapped at him, slapping his hands away from her, she walked into their bathroom and she closed the door and locked it behind her.

'Lauren please open the door babe' he asked her

'Fuck off Joey!' she yelled through the door.

Joey sighed knowing that Lauren would stay locked in the bathroom for as long as he tried to coax her out 'Look when you've calmed down come down stairs and have some dinner. I'll save you some' he told her softly she heard him leave the room and close the bedroom door behind him.

He re-joined the kids downstairs, 'Isn't mum coming down?' Connor asked him

'No, she had a headache, she'll be down later' Joey said to him 'Eat your dinner' he told him. 'Sophie, James it's your turn to do the dishes tonight'

'It's Hope's turn' Sophie said 'we did it last night because Hope said she couldn't be arsed and mum wasn't feeling well'

'All right then Hope you can clean up tonight'

'Oh but daddy I wanted to go out'

'And you can, after you have cleaned up' he told her and he walked out of the room and poured himself a scotch. Joey's phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID and rejected the call, he made a quick call to Jamie to tell him that he was in charge again for a few days, he heard a text come in as he spoke to James, when the call ended he turned off the phone without reading the text message.

Lauren took a shower and she pulled on a pair of Joey's boxer shorts and one of his old t-shirts that she used to sleep in and she climbed into the bed. She heard the kids come to bed one by one. All except Hope. No doubt she would come home in the early hours of the morning, pushing her boundaries yet again.

Lauren heard Joey come into the room a few minutes later. She felt the bed dip as he sat down on it briefly, obviously taking his clothes off. He went into the shower and cleaned his teeth and then came back into the bedroom, Lauren felt in get in behind her

'Are you asleep babe?' he asked her softly, she didn't reply. She knew that Joey knew that she was awake. 'I'm sorry' he said softly 'I love you' he whispered to her in the darkness. Lauren was too angry to reply to him. He thought that "I'm sorry" and "I love you" fixed everything, and yes, usually they did. But not this time. Lauren waited until Joey was asleep and she climbed out of bed and crept downstairs. She made herself a toasted cheese sandwich and she took it into the lounge and she sat down on the sofa to eat it. She thought about the leaflets that she had picked up from the chemist to read about the menopause, she was at the time of her life when she would no longer be able to bear children. She was 39 years old and she was going through the change. She cried for the babies that she lost, for the babies that would now never have. She curled up on the sofa and for the first time in a long time she cried herself to sleep.

Hope frowned when she saw a faint light in the lounge. She crept into the house quietly, expecting to find that her mother had waited up for her to give her mouthful for breaking curfew and impose another punishment on her. Instead when she peered into the lounge on her way passed she saw that her mother was asleep. She frowned. She knew that her parents had argued tonight. But never before had they not slept in the same bed. She licked her lips and she crept further into the room and she pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa and she draped it over her mother carefully so that she didn't wake her. Even though she was asleep, Hope could see that she had been crying. She swallowed and kissed her mother on the forehead and went up to her room.

The next morning Lauren woke up with a groan, she felt awful and stiff. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was 10:00am. She leapt off the sofa and wave of dizziness came over her, she sat back down and took slow deep breaths, putting her head between her knees. When the light headedness had gone she got up and she walked into the kitchen. There was a note on the bar waiting for her.

"Lauren,

Kids are at school, I've gone grocery shopping.

Be back soon.

Love Joey xx"

She screwed up the note and left it on the bar and set about making herself some coffee. She took it up to the bedroom and she took a shower and dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a t-strap t-shirt. She changed the sheets on the bed and gathered up the washing from the rest of the house and went down stairs and sorted out a load for the washing machine, she put it on and poured another coffee, grabbed a bin bag and went upstairs to clean out the rubbish in the bins upstairs.

When Joey came back downstairs he found his wife sitting at the breakfast with a coffee cup and a white stick like object in front of her.

He carried the groceries in 'I missed you last night' he told her softly, 'this morning when I woke up and you weren't there'

'I slept on the sofa' she replied

'I know that, I saw you there when I got up. The kids had questions'

'Well I'm sure you answered them all fully' Lauren replied and she took a sip of her coffee 'I take it Hope has the car?'

'Yes' Joey said 'Did you need it today?'

'Doesn't matter if I did or didn't now does it, it's not here for me to use'

'Look I've been thinking about that, maybe we can get Hope a car of her own?' Joey asked her 'For her birthday?' he asked her

Lauren sighed and rolled her eyes 'And what kind of message does that give her Joey?' Lauren asked him with a frown 'that she plays up and I punish her and daddy buys her a car'

Joey sighed and he went back outside to get some more bags. A bouquet of pink carnations was put down on the bar in front of her 'I'm sorry' Joey said to her softly 'I shouldn't have undermined you with Hope and I shouldn't have yelled at you in front of the kids' he said to her 'I'll tell Hope the punishment is reinstated'

'Oh yeah great give her another reason to hate me' Lauren said 'What do you think she is going to say when you tell her that you've changed your mind about the punishment? She's immediately going to think that you and I have had a conversation and I've put my foot down again. And it's little too late to take it back now don't you think?'

'Babe, I'm trying here' he told her, he sat down beside her and he saw the pregnancy test in front of her. He licked his lips and he frowned. 'What's this? Are you pregnant?'

'No for that to happen we would actually need to have sex' Lauren said with a sigh 'I found it in one of the girl's bin' she told him

'What? Whose?' Joey exclaimed

'Sophie's'

'It is negative?' Joey picked it up too look at it 'What does half a blue line mean?'

'It means that our 15 year old daughter could be pregnant' Lauren said and she picked up her coffee and took a sip

'Sophie?' Joey frowned 'What do we do? I didn't know she had a boyfriend'

'Shaun Silvers, he's in the year above her at school' Lauren replied

'And they're having sex?'

'Apparently' Lauren looked at the stick in Joey's hand she felt her eyes fill with tears and she inexplicably burst into tears. 'You know I thought this would happen to Hope not Sophie. Sophie was always the one that I never would have thought would have got herself into this situation. She's not irresponsible'

'Don't cry' Joey said softly

'It's not fair!' Lauren said 'she's 15 years old. Do you think she wants to have this baby? Do you think she's ready to have this baby? Do you think she can cope with the responsibility of taking care of a baby?' Lauren frowned and dashed her tears angrily away with the back of her hand. 'All the times we tried to have more and we couldn't...' she trailed off

'Lauren….hey come here' he tried to pull her into his arms but she wouldn't let him, she got off the stool and moved to the groceries and she started to unpack them, blindly putting them away. Joey watched her 'Lauren, I know that we wanted more children, but we both made the decision not to try again' he told her softly 'Not after Scott…babe if you want to try again…'

'I can't' she told him 'it's too late'

'Of course it isn't' Joey said to her 'Lots of women your age have babies. If it's that what you want then we can try' he told her and he stood up and walked over to her 'Babe, stop. Stop. Look at me' he told her and she sighed and she turned to look at him 'Do you want to try to have another baby?' he asked her softly, she nodded her head and Joey cupped her face in his hands and he wiped her tears away with his thumbs, 'then we try' he said softly

'We can't' Lauren shook her head

'Yes we can' Joey said 'I want to try to have another baby too' he said to her 'Just imagine having a tiny little baby to hold, to take care off' he said 'To go through all that again, I remember how incredibly sexy you looked when you were pregnant' he told her with a smile, he was shocked when Lauren cried harder

'You want to have another baby?' she asked him

He nodded 'Yes, isn't that what we're talking about?' he asked her

'Well if you want to have another baby then you'll have to find someone else to do it with because I can't' she told him

Joey frowned at her 'I don't understand I thought you just said that you wanted to have another baby, I thought we just agreed that we were going to try' he told her

'It's too late to try Joey' Lauren frowned at him 'I can't have any more children. I'm going through the menopause' she told him and she ran out of the room crying. He heard the bedroom door slam as he stared after her.


	5. Chapter 5

Joey sighed and he walked over the shopping bags and he pulled out a bar of Lauren's favourite chocolate, a bottle of wine and a box of tissues, he pulled one of the carnations out of the bouquet he had brought her and he went upstairs to find his wife.

She was crying brokenly on the bed and Joey put the things he had brought on her bedside table and he climbed onto bed behind her, he got as close to her as he could and he put the carnation in front of her 'For the woman I love' he said softly. Lauren opened her eyes and she took the flower and she sniffed it,

'Thank you'

'Why didn't you tell me babe hey?' he asked her 'Is this why you've been getting all these headaches?' he asked her and she nodded 'What did the doctor say? Do you need to be taking anything? Like those hormone tablets that my mum had to take?'

'I haven't been to the doctors' she told him

Joey sighed 'Then how do you know that you are going through the menopause?' he asked her softly

Lauren sighed and she rolled over to look at him 'Because I have some of the symptoms' she replied 'Headaches, dizziness, fatigue, mood swings, my periods are really light' she told him 'I fell sleep yesterday at my desk in the gallery. That's why I was late to pick the kids up to make dinner, I didn't mean to fall asleep….I didn't mean to let everyone down'

'I know you didn't' he said feeling guilty for yelling at her 'babe don't you think that you should go to the Doctors?' he asked her and she shook her head 'Why not?'

'Because then when he actually tells me what I already know it will be real' Joey nodded in understanding 'and I don't want it to be real'

'Tell me what I can do to make you feel better' he told her softly

'There isn't anything that you can do' she told him 'All the parts that made me a woman are all withered and shrivelled and useless. Unless you can fix that then there is nothing that you can do' she fell into another bout of crying.

'Aw honey don't cry' he said wrapping his arms around her 'Sssh darling' he kissed her hair 'Just because you can't have any more children doesn't make you any less of a woman, not to me' he told her softly. 'You are still as beautiful and as sexy as you were 16 years ago, you are the love of my life Lauren. You will always be all woman to me'

'But that's just it isn't it' she said and he looked up at him 'You can still have children if you wanted to. I can't'

Joey shook his head 'The only woman I want to have children with is you' he told her 'No one else' he stroked her cheek softly 'I love you. I want you. So if you can't have any more children then neither can I' he told her firmly 'We already have four children. Two beautiful daughters and two handsome sons'

'We have one daughter that hates me with a passion and the other one could be pregnant' Lauren said 'James seems happier to spend all is time at his friend's house than here with me. Connor's the only one who seems to want to be around me'

'They're just growing up Lauren' Joey told her softly 'They're starting to build their own lives, their own relationships'

'They don't need me anymore'

'Of course they do' Joey said softly

'No they don't' lauren shook her head 'neither do you' she sobbed

'Yes I do, I'll always need you baby' he whispered 'Never think I don't' he told her softly 'We all need you. We'd fall apart without you. I'd fall apart with you. I did that last time, when I thought that I had lost you forever' he said 'you are the glue that hold this family together' he stroked her cheek and tucked her hair behind her ear with a smile 'I know you probably don't feel like that now, but it's true. And do you know what else is true?' he asked her and she shook her head 'You are still my number one girl' Lauren smiled at him and he moved forward and he kissed her softly 'Why don't you have a stay in bed day? I've brought you wine and chocolate and here, her reached across the bed and picked up the TV remote control and gave it to her 'You can watch TV and I will finish off the chores and get dinner ready for the kids. And I'll cook a special dinner for you tonight, I'll make my chocolate mousse'

'The one that's better than sex?' she asked him Joey smiled nodding his head

'Yes that one' he told her

'Okay' she said softly

'You like that idea?'

'I love that idea' she nodded

'Good. Come on let's get you into bed' he told her 'you let me take care of you'

'What do we do about Sophie?' Lauren asked him

'I'll handle it. I'll talk to her when she gets home from school'

'Be sensitive Joey' she said 'Think about what you are going to say before you jump in with both feet. She's probably terrified'

'Okay I will. I will come up and check on you in a little while okay?'

'Okay' she nodded and Joey bent down and gave her soft lingering kiss. 'Relax, take some time for you. I love you'

'I love you too Joey and thank you'

**AN: So how do you think Joey will handle the conversation with Sophie? Is he going to screw it up?**

**Thanks for all your reviews. **

**R&R as always **


	6. Chapter 6

Joey took care of the washing and the groceries. He looked in the freezer as he tried to decide what to cook for their dinner. He smiled as an idea came to him, he would cook them the same meal that he first cooked for Lauren.

He glanced at the clock, he had time to make everything if they ate late. The first thing he needed to do was make the chocolate mousse as it needed time to set.

At 3:30 he had finished and he smiled to himself.

He had taken Lauren up a sandwich at 1:00pm and she was asleep, when he checked on her again she was still asleep, but she had obviously woken up and eaten the sandwich at some point.

He heard the kids come in just as he was chopping up vegetables for his dinner with Lauren.

'Hey dad where's mum?' Sophie asked him as she went to the fridge and grabbed a soda.

'She's in bed asleep' he told her 'Have you got any homework?'

'No I did it in the library during my free period' she told him

'Is mum okay?' she asked as Hope, Connor and James came in 'are you and mum okay'?'

'Your mother is feeling a little under the weather' Joey said to them 'and yes you're mother and I are fine' he nodded 'How do you fancy takeaway for dinner?' he asked them all

'Really?' James smiled 'I could murder a pizza, Soph?' he looked at his twin who was smiling and nodded

'I have been having wicked cravings for pizza all day' she told him

'So you two want pizza. James? Hope?'

'Chinese' Hope said

'Curry' James replied

'Okay. Joey pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and he caught sight of a picture of Lauren that he had had in his wallet for years, he smiled at it and Hope peered over his shoulder.

'Is that me?' she asked him

'Nope. That's Lauren' he told her 'she must have been about 19 or 20 when this was taken'

'She hasn't changed much' Hope said to him as Joey pulled out some money

'No, no she hasn't' he said with a smile.

'Mum was asleep on the sofa when I came in last night' Hope said to him

'She couldn't settle so she came down here for a while, fell asleep' Joey said as he handed Hope the money 'Take your mother's car and go round the takeaways. In fact you can take Connor and James with you too' he said 'Experience Hope's driving for the last time, because when you come back your car privileges are gone.

'But why daddy?' Hope frowned confused

'Because your mother came downstairs after 1:00am and your curfew is midnight which means if you saw her asleep on the sofa then you were over an hour late' Joey told her matter of factly 'after you come back from getting your dinner, you are grounded for a month, no phone and no car and you do the all the washing up for a month too'

'But daddy!' Hope exclaimed

'If you want I can add no WIFI?' Joey asked her. Hope frowned and sighed

'No. Fine' she said to him 'Come on' she looked at her brothers.

'Can I go say hi to mum?' Sophie asked him

'No, she was still sleeping when I checked on her earlier' he told her 'maybe later hey? I wanted to have a little chat with you'

'Oh?' she blinked at him

'Yeah' Joey nodded. 'Let sit down in the lounge' he told her, she followed him into the room and she sat back on the sofa as Joey perched on the edge.

'What's up dad?' she asked him

'Lauren found something when she was emptying the bins upstairs, specifically in your bin that she was concerned about, that we are both concerned about' he told her and he reached into his back pocket and he pulled out the pregnancy test and he put it down on the table in front of her. She stared at it. 'Sophie, are you pregnant?' he asked her

'No' she shook her head

'But you took a test, so you must have thought that you were' he said

'I did, but it came back like that so I got another one and it came back negative'

'Doesn't mean that you are not pregnant' Joey told her 'Lauren took plenty of pregnancy tests that we both thought were positive and negative but there weren't. These things aren't 100% accurate no matter what it says on the box'

'I'm not pregnant daddy' Sophie said 'I took the tests last week'

'So is there a reason that you think that you're not pregnant?' he asked her 'Have you got your period?'

'DAD!' Sophie blushed bright red 'I'm not talking about this with you'

'Yes you are' he told her softly 'Sweetheart, I asked you a question. Have you got your period?'

'Yes' she nodded 'It started three days ago' she told him squirming in her seat feeling awkward and embarrassed.

Are you sure?'

'Yes I'm sure! Can I go now?' she frowned at him

'No we're not done yet' he said to her 'how long have you been having sex?'

'Dad!' she exclaimed again

'You know this is either going to go two ways, either you start talking to me or I'll call your boyfriend, Shaun Silvers, is that his name? And he and I will have a little man to man chat' Sophie covered her eyes with her hands 'So what's it going to be Soph hey?' he asked her

'It was 8 weeks ago and I only did it once' she told him

'It?' Joey asked her 'And what exactly is this "it" that you did?' he asked her

'Daddy please…'

'If you are old enough to be having sex then you are old enough to talk about sex' he told her

'Can you stop saying that word?' she frowned at him

'What sex?' Joey asked her 'Why?'

'It's embarrassing talking about this with you. I'd rather talk to mum'

'Well you're out of luck because as I said your mother is sleeping' he told her 'And I can assure you that I know just as much about sex as your mother does' he licked his lips 'So I'll ask you again…'

'It was one time daddy and I swear it's not going to happen again' she told him

'And what does Shaun say about that?'

'I don't care what Shaun says about it, we broke up' she told him

'You did? Why?'

'Because he wanted to do it again and I didn't' she told him with a frown.

'So you broke up with him?'

'He broke up with me' Sophie told him

Joey nodded 'So why don't you want to have sex again?'

'Because'

'Sophie…' Joey sighed

'Urgh! Okay all right! Because it was horrible and uncomfortable and it hurt… a lot' she told him

'Oh' Joey said fighting back a grin of relief 'I see'

'And besides I'm only fifteen and….I want to concentrate on school and my friends' she told him

'So why did you decide to have sex in the first place?' he asked her

'I don't know, Hope said she's done it lots and she likes it'

'Does she now' Joey said feeling the relief he felt earlier ebb away 'So if Hope told you that it felt good to put your hand in the fire would you?'

'No' Sophie said

'And if Hope said that it was good to eat those really big chillies would you?'

'No' she repeated.

Joey nodded 'Good' he told her 'You are a bright young girl Sophie, you have a bright future ahead of you. You don't want to ruin that by getting yourself pregnant do you?'

'No' she shook her head and her eyes filled with tears 'I was so scared daddy!'

'I know you were' Joey told her 'Come here' he held his arms open and she moved into them 'Promise me that when you start thinking about having sex again that you come and talk to me or mum okay? Maybe we need to make an appointment for you to go on the pill?'

'No I don't want to go on the pill' she shook her head 'I am never ever going to have sex again. I promise!' she told him

'Good' Joey said softly and kissed the top of her head 'Because me and mum are far too young to become grandparents'

'Do you like sex dad?' she asked him

'Yes' he told her truthfully

'Why?' she asked him

'Do you really want to talk about my sex life with your mother?'

'GOD! No!' she exclaimed 'It's bad enough that I know that you and mum had sex at least 4 times that resulted in me, James, Connor and Hope' she told him

'At least 4 times' Joey said with a smile. He hugged Sophie tightly 'Next time anything like this happens…'

'It won't dad … but I promise that if it does I will talk to mum about it'

'God girl' he said with a smile

'So are you going to ground me now?'

'Do you think you need to be punished?' he asked her 'because I don't' he told her shaking his head 'you've punished yourself enough don't you think?' she nodded 'you are forbidden from dating again until you are at least 27' he told her, she laughed against his chest. 'Why don't you go wash up for dinner, your food will be here soon'

'Okay. Thanks daddy' she said and she smiled kissing his cheek. 'Love you'

'Love you more baby girl' he replied with a smile. She left the room and he let out a sigh of relief and picked up the test, he dropped it into the waste bin in the kitchen, washed his hands and then started to chop the vegetables again.

**AN: So how do you think Joey handled that conversation? And is Hope in even more trouble?**

**How will the dinner go he is cooking for Lauren? **

**Thanks for your reviews**

**R&R as always **


	7. Chapter 7

Later Joey was about to head upstairs to check on Lauren when she came into the room. He could see that she had been crying again

'Aw babe' he said as she walked into this open arms, he rocked her gently as she pressed her face into his chest. The kids looked at their parents with concern.

'Mum are you okay?' Connor asked her as they gathered round her

'Yes I'm fine, don't worry' she told him with a smile 'I'm just feeling a little under the weather is all, In a few days I'll be right as rain' she told him, Joey let her go and she stroked Connor's cheek 'your dad is taking care of me'

'Good' he told her with a smile

'How was school?' she asked him

'Still standing' he replied and Lauren smiled at him

'Yeah I know how you feel, but it will all be worth it in the end I promise' she told him.

'We're going to go upstairs' Connor told him 'leave you and dad alone'

'Okay thank you' she smiled 'Night' she kissed him on the cheek.

One by one her children gave her a kiss on the cheek, Sophie gave her a tight hug 'Hope you feel better soon mum' she told her 'there's nothing to worry about it' she whispered in her ear. Lauren exchanged glances with her husband.

Hope was last and she looked at Lauren 'Dad said I had to give you the car keys back' she told her 'I put them in the dish on the bar. Can I do anything?' she asked her

Lauren shook her head 'No honey but thank you' she said

'Okay. Night mum, dad' Hope said and he kissed her mother on the cheek 'Love you mum' she whispered softly

'Love you too Hope' Lauren replied.

When they gone Lauren looked at Joey 'What did you tell the kids?' she asked him 'They all look terrified that I'm going to die any second'

'I just told them that you weren't feeling well that's all' he said to her 'And their concern should show you how much they need you hey?' he asked her 'they all wanted to come up and see you but I told them to wait until you came downstairs'

'Even Hope?'

'Especially Hope' he smiled at her 'She's so much like you, you know and she's so worried about you'

'Yeah she even gave me my car keys back! Usually I have to nag her'

'I grounded her' Joey told him 'Told her she lost her car and phone privileges and she had to do all the washing up for a month'

'You grounded her?'

'She broke her curfew' Joey told her

'And I suppose she just took her punishment from you with no mouthing off?'

'She whined a little but yeah' he nodded

'Typical' Lauren rolled her eyes 'She always was a daddy's girl. Maybe you should dish out her punishments all the time' she said to him as he led her into the lounge. He sat down on the sofa, pulling her onto his lap.

'If you want me too' he nodded, he saw the surprise on Lauren's face 'I thought about what you said, that I wanted to be the good guy and you were right, I did' he told her 'It's about time that I helped you discipline the kids and do a bit more around here' he said softly 'I'll cut back on the hours at the clubs, Jamie's done really well he deserves more responsibility' he told her

'Are you sure?' Lauren asked him 'You don't have to'

'Yes' he nodded 'this is where I need to be' Joey told her as he kissed her softly. Lauren smiled, laying her head on his shoulder. 'So are you hungry?' he asked her

'Starved' she nodded

'Good' he said and he stood up with Lauren in his arms and he carried her into the kitchen and sat her down at the dining table. She looked at the table and a memory hit her, the table was draped with a white table cloth, two places had been set, with napkins, glasses, and in the centre of the table sat two candles, their flames dancing happily, it was exactly as she remembered the table being set the first time he had cooked dinner for her.

'Joey!' she exclaimed

'Did I forget anything?' he asked her, she shook her head

'No it's perfect…just like I remembered'

'Do you remember what we had to eat?' he asked her

'Prawn cocktail, Spaghetti Bolognese and chocolate mousse'

'Very good' Joey smiled as he poured her a glass of wine 'I'll just get the starters' he told her

They were half way through their man course when Lauren frowned 'Did you talk to Sophie?' she asked Joey

'Yes I did' he told her 'Apparently Shaun is no longer in the picture'

'What why?'

'Because Sophie refused to have sex with him again' Joey told her

'So she is having sex?

'Yes, well no' he told her 'She had sex once, didn't like it and decided not to do it again'

'Is she pregnant?'

'No, she's on her period' he told her, Lauren looked at him, her form halfway between her mouth and plate

'She told you that?'

'Yep' Joey nodded 'She squirmed around for a little, went bright red but she eventually told me that she was on her period, started 3 days ago. She took another test too and that when came back negative' Joey tod her proudly.

'She doesn't like sex?'

'No' Joey shook his head as he took a swig of wine 'She said that it was painful and uncomfortable and she had no desire to have sex ever again'

'Did you tell her that it wasn't always like that?' she asked him

'Joey blinked and he looked at her 'No' he said with a frown

'Joey!' Lauren exclaimed 'You should have told her that with the right person it can feel amazing'

'Wouldn't that just mean that she'd want to have sex again?' he asked her 'She is only 15'

'Joey!' Lauren frowned rolling her eyes at him

'I did tell her that when she was thinking about having se again to come and talk to me or you about it, I even suggested that we take her to the doctors to go on the pill, but she said she wants to concentrate on her friends and school' Joey said, Lauren smiled, impressed

'So she doesn't want to go on the pill?'

'Nope' Joey shook his head 'She did ask me if I enjoyed sex' he told her

'What did you say?' Lauren asked him

'I said that I did but did she really want to have a conversation with me about my sex life with you and she said no. Seemed a little shocked that we may have had sex more than four times' he told her with a grin, Laure smiled

'It's weird how children think like that isn't it?' she asked him

'It is yeah, obviously my mother only had sex twice and your parents 3 times' he grinned at her and then he sighed 'but we may have another problem'

'I don't like the sound of that' Lauren said and she put her fork down and picked up her wine and took a sip 'Okay tell me'

'Sophie told me that Hope was the one who told her that she should have sex, because apparently Hope does it a lot and loves it!'

'Does she now?'

'That's exactly what I said' Joey nodded

'And what did Hope say when you spoke to her about it?'

'I didn't' Joey said to her 'It kind of threw me. I thought I'd talk to you about it first'

'Okay' Lauren said 'I think we should talk to Hope, maybe I can stop into the chemist and bring home some leaflets on STD's?' she asked him 'And tell her that she needs to remember that the other kids look up to her and tell her about Sophie's scare and remind her that she needs to be responsible. She is the oldest'

'Good plan' Joey nodded 'I can pick up the leaflets on the way from dropping the kids off tomorrow' he told her

'Okay thanks' she told him.

They finished their dinner, Joey refused to let Lauren clean up and settled her in to the lounge on the sofa with the wine. She heard his phone ring when he was in the kitchen and a hushed conversation took place, she couldn't hear what was being said, but Joey seemed to be upset.

When he came into the lounge he carried a tray with coffee on it, he set it down on the table and he sank down next to her on the sofa.

'Who was on the phone?' she asked him

'Just a sales call' he shrugged

'You sounded pretty upset'

'They keep calling even though I have asked then several times to take my number off their lists' Joey frowned at her 'It's beginning to annoy me getting numerous calls throughout the day' he told her and he licked his lips 'So how do you feel now?' he changed the subject.

'Okay I guess' he shrugged

'Can I do anything else?' he asked her

'No but thank you' she said with a smile

Joey put his arm around her shoulders and she leant against him with a sigh 'We could fool around a little if you wanted?' Joey suggested

'I'm not really in the mood' Lauren replied

'We haven't made love for a while'

'I know and I'm sorry. I've just lost interest in that side of things' she admitted to him 'It's one of the symptoms of the menopause, loss of libido'

'Well that's because you're hormones are all out of whack babe' he told her 'If you went to the doctors, he could give you the HST thingies and you'd feel like your old self again' he told her

Lauren frowned and blinked at him 'You saw the side effects your mother had when she was on those' Lauren reminded him

'Yeah well all side effects aren't the same for each person' he replied

'Wait so you don't care about the possible side effects that I could get if I take these pills, you just want me to take them so that you can have sex?' Lauren moved away from him and looked at him with a frown

'No I'm not saying that…exactly' he told her 'We've always had a very healthy sex life Lauren' he told her 'and I miss that with you' he told her 'I've tried to touch you but you won't let me'

Lauren blinked at him 'Oh well I'm sorry that I am not the same person that you married!'

'No Lauren I'm not saying that!' Joey frowned at her 'You are still the same girl' he told her

'That's just it Joey, I'm not a girl anymore. I'm a 39 year old woman who is going through the menopause, who is trying to come to terms with the fact that I can never have any more children. That I don't feel like a woman anymore and you're just interested in getting some?' she stood up 'I'm going to bed'

'Lauren!' he frowned at her

'You can sleep in the spare room' she told him angrily 'That way you won't have to lie in bed next to me and feel rejected' she frowned and she walked out.

'Nice one Joey!' he frowned rubbing his hands over his face. He thought about going after Lauren, he sighed and he pulled his phone out of his pocket and he dialled a number. He waited for the phone to be answered

'Hi it's me' he said

**AN: So just when Joey had got things back on track he puts his feet in it again! **

**Who is on the phone to? Lauren's mum? His mum? Whitney? Abs? **

**Thanks for all your reviews**

**R&R as always**


	8. Chapter 8

Lauren heard the front door open and close and Joey's car start up and pull off the drive. She got out of bed and she locked the bedroom door and got back into the bed, pulling the covers over herself. She was in between a tearful state and an angry state, unsure of which was going to first.

After an hour she got up and unlocked the door and she went downstairs. She lay down on the sofa to wait for Joey to get home, after thinking things through she realised that Joey hadn't meant anything by what he said, he was right they did have a healthy sex life, and she missed it too, even though she didn't want to actually have sex with him. She decided that she would go to the doctor's, she would make an appointment tomorrow. Maybe the HRT tablets that he would give her would make her start to feel more human again instead of the way that she felt. She flicked the TV on, turning the sound off and she turned the lights off downstairs and she waited for Joey to come home. She heard his car pull onto the drive and she turned off the TV and she waited. He came into the house quietly, his phone rang and he answered it quickly.

'Miss me already?' he said

Lauren lay as still as a statue on the sofa, she closed her eyes, deciding to pretend to be asleep in case he came into the lounge. She listened to the one sided conversation.

'No I did, it was just what I needed….thank you….yes I will call you tomorrow…..when I've dropped the kids off at school…..yes…. yes I promise…..'

Lauren frowned as she listened to the phone call, not sure what to make of it. She heard Joey laugh softly

'Yeah babe me too… I've got to go…..I'm home now and I don't want to wake the kids…yeah …..bye' he ended the call and he walked up the stairs and didn't come back down.

Lauren swallowed. She heard him call someone babe. He called Alice babe. Maybe he was on the phone to his sister, she knew that sometimes they spoke to each other later at night on the phone. But then where did he go? She thought with a frown, maybe he needed to get some air, she had jumped down his throat again. She felt guilty. She got up and she went up the stairs and crept into the bedroom, she could hear the shower running, she frowned again and got into bed and snuggled under the covers, waiting for Joey to come back into the room. She glanced at the clock. It was 3:00am, Joey had been gone for 5 hours, and he was having a shower at 3:00am, she wondered why.

She heard the shower stop and five minutes later Joey got into the bed with a sigh. His phone beeped and he picked it up off the bedside table, she heard him send a text and then put the phone back down.

Lauren lay awake, troubled by her thoughts. She drifted off to sleep at 6:00am.

Lauren woke when Angel shook her gently 'Hey' he said 'It's 1:00pm' he told her 'I need to pop up, Jamie's having trouble with the safe at the club, I'll be about an hour, maybe two' he told her softly. I brought you a coffee and a sandwich'

Lauren rubbed her eyes and she looked at the bedside table and she nodded 'thank you' she told him quietly 'I might be not be here when you get back, I'm going to see if I can get a Doctor's appointment' she told him

'You don't have to' Joey said 'I'm sorry about last night, I didn't mean to upset you' he told her softly

'I didn't mean to snap' she replied

'I know' he told her with a smile 'I'll be back as soon as I can okay'

'Okay' she nodded. Joey gave her a quick kiss to her forehead and he left.

Lauren sighed and she lay in bed for half an hour longer, she climbed out of bed and she heard something fall on the floor. Looking down she saw that it was Joey's phone. She picked it up and she looked at it. She licked her lips and she swallowed, she could look at his phone and see who he called last night, see who he text. Her bladder reminded her why she got out of bed and she put the phone back on the bed and rushed to the bathroom. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and splashed her face with water, before dabbing it dry with a towel.

Returning to the bedroom, sitting down on the bed she picked up Joey's phone and she unlocked it, she stared at the picture on his phone, one of her taken on their wedding day. She felt bad for snooping on his phone, it was probably Alice anyway. She was about to put the phone down when it rang, It was Joey's work. She answered the call, thinking that Joey had got there and realised that he had lost his phone and was calling to see if Lauren had found it.

'Hi babe, your phone is here' she said softly

'Er… I was ringing Joey's mobile?' she heard a male voice

'Jamie?' Lauren frowned It's Lauren' she said

'Oh hi Lauren, you all right?'

'Yes fine thank you?'

'Well no not really…. Is Joey there?'

'Is he not with you? He told me he was coming in?' she said to him 'Something about trouble with the safe?'

'Oh er right he is, has he left then?'

'Yeah about half an hour ago, he should be with you…'

'Perhaps he's stuck in traffic' Jamie offered.

'Probably yeah' she said

'All right I'll wait for him then' Jamie said and he hung up.

Lauren frowned, 'The club was only 15 minutes away by car, Joey should have been thereby now. She looked at his call history and the last call he had received was at 5:00pm last night. She swallowed and she looked at his text history. There was no record of a text being received or sent in the early hours of the morning. Her mouth felt dry suddenly and her heart was racing in her chest.

He'd deleted his history. She scrolled through the numbers on his phone looking for a number she didn't recognise but she couldn't see any. She got dressed trying to think of a reason that Joey would delete his history. She carried the phone down the stairs with the tray and she took a deep breath, she threw away the coffee and the sandwich and she left Joey's phone on the bar after locking it again. She left him a note on the table to say that she had found it, she picked up her car keys and she went out locking the house up behind her.

She drove to Walford and she parked outside her parent's house and she walked across the street to the Vic. There were people behind the bar that she didn't know and she ordered a double vodka and coke and she took it to a table in the corner, unaware that someone had heard her.

'Lauren?' she heard Tyler's voice 'Are you okay Lauren? You look …..like someone's run over your puppy'

She looked at Tyler and she licked her lips and picked up her drink and she drank it down in one, closing her eyes when she had finished.

Tyler couldn't believe the next words out of her mouth 'I think Joey's having an affair' she whispered

**AN: Is Joey having an affair? What do you all think?**

**What is Tyler going to say to her? **

**Thank you for your reviews**

**Just a note to some guest reviewers - can you look up the word "story" in the dictionary. **

**Nobody is forcing you to read any of the stories posted here if you don't like it DON'T READ IT! And please stop posting reviews. That way we won't have to read your crap either. You know who you are. Thank you. **

**For the rest of you R&R as always **


	9. Chapter 9

'What?' Tyler frowned at her 'No I am sure that you are wrong' he shook his head in disbelief

'Would you tell me? I mean if Joey had confided in you?' Lauren asked him

'Do you really think that Joey would confide in me about something like that?' he asked her and he took a breath and he let it out slowly as he sat down

'I don't know' she said with a frown 'I wouldn't have thought that Joey would have an affair'

'Why do you think he's having an affair?'

She told him what had happened last night and this morning and he blinked at her in surprise

'That's it?' he asked her 'Just because of something that happened last night and this morning and you jumped to the conclusion that he is having an affair?' he frowned at her 'What did Joey say?'

'You know I think I need another drink' she said picking up her glass and walking to the bar, she brought another double vodka and coke before returning to her seat.

'You haven't spoken to him about it have you?' Tyler asked her

'No' she shook her head

'Don't you think you should?'

'What if he denies it?'

'What if there is nothing to deny?'

'Then why would he delete texts, lie about where he was going?'

'And how is sitting here getting drunk going to help?' he asked her softly 'Lauren, Joey loves you. He's in love with you' he told her softly. 'You have four children together. He's not going to do anything to jeopardise that is he?'

'Dad did'

'Joey isn't your dad' he told her softly 'You know what I think that you should do?' he asked her

'What?'

'Talk to Joey' he told her as her phone rang. She looked at it and she saw that it was Joey calling her. She ignored the call and took a drink. Tyler rolled his eyes and shook his head

'What are you like hey?' he asked her as the call went through to voicemail.

'Why don't you let me take you home?'

'Because I don't want to go home' Lauren said to him 'I want to stay in the pub and talk to you'

'This isn't going to solve anything'

'Maybe not but it's making me feel better'

Tyler took her drink from her 'Come on you up!' he told her. He led her out of the pub and she lopped her arm through his as they walked back to her car 'Car keys please' he held out his hand

Lauren fished them out of her hand bag and she dropped them into his open palm

Tyler drove them back to Lauren's house and parked beside Joey's car. She got out of the car and she looked at Tyler

'Are you coming in?' she asked him

'For a coffee while I wait for a cab' he nodded his head

Lauren grinned at him 'You could stay for dinner'

'I can't I have plans' he told her 'But thank you, some other time maybe' he followed her up to the house and she unlocked the door and they went inside.

'Lauren is that you?' Joey called out to her

'Expecting someone else?' she replied as she closed the door 'Take a seat in the lounge Ty I'll make the coffee and bring it through'

'All right thanks' he nodded and he walked into the lounge. Lauren walked into the kitchen and she started the coffee machine.

Joey looked at her 'Where have you been?' he asked her 'I tried to call you'

'I know I saw. I just didn't feel like talking to you'

Joey frowned at her 'What? Why? I thought we both apologised to each other this morning'

'You know you left your phone here this morning?'

'Yeah I know' he nodded 'Well I didn't until I came home and found it' Joey frowned at her 'How did you get on at the Doctors?'

'I didn't go' she replied 'I went to the Vic instead'

Joey blinked 'Why?'

'Because I fancied a drink and I bumped into Ty and he's here in the lounge, I'm making him coffee' she replied as she got two cups out.

'The kids are going out tonight, I thought we could sit down and talk'

'Talk about what?' Lauren asked him 'And when you say that the kids are going out tonight I assume that doesn't include Hope because if it does you misunderstand the concept of grounding, she's not supposed to leave the house' Lauren told him with a frown. She made the coffee and took it through to the lounge leaving Joey confused in the kitchen.

He listened to Lauren and Ty talking quietly in the lounge. Tyler left after an hour in a taxi and Lauren went into the kitchen with the dirty cups and she rinsed them before opening the door to the dishwasher to put them in, she discovered it was full 'Oh I see Hope hasn't bothered to wash up either, just stuffed the dishwasher full. Part of being a parent Joey is that you need to be able to see through the punishments that you give the kids. Where have you hidden her phone?' she asked him, when she looked up at him he looked sheepish. 'Right so the only punishment she has is that she can't use my car, which she doesn't need with you ferrying her about everywhere. Good job Joey' Lauren frowned at him, she left the cups on the side and she swept her bag off the bar.

'Where are you going?'

'To lie down' Lauren replied

Joey sighed 'Why are you being like this?' he asked her 'I'm sorry about what I said last night, it came out wrong. I just meant that I missed you… us' he told her

'I wish I could believe that Joey'

He frowned at her 'What's that supposed to mean?' he asked her

'What did you want to talk about?' Lauren turned to look at him

'Us' he replied 'I want to talk about us'

Lauren swallowed 'you know what Joey if you're about to tell me what I think you're about to tell me I would rather you didn't. You can just pack your bags and go' she told him and she turned and ran up the stairs and into the bedroom, leave a confused Joey downstairs staring after her.

**AN: Would Joey be confused by Lauren's actions if he was having an affair? Or does he think that Lauren is clueless to his actions? **

**Thank you for all your reviews R&R as always (except for certain guest reviewers….please don't bother … you know who you are!)**


	10. Chapter 10

Joey went up the stairs and he opened the bedroom door and he found Lauren had a suitcase on the bed and she was tossing his things into it

'What's going on Lauren?' he frowned at her 'why are you packing my things?'

'Because you are not staying here' she told him with a frown

'Wait, can we back up a second to when we were downstairs, when you said that you didn't want me to tell you what you thought I was going to tell you?' he asked her 'What exactly did you think I was going to tell you?' he frowned, she ignored him and kept on packing 'Lauren stop! Talk to me' she grabbed her arms stopping her from moving passed him

'You going to deny it?'

'Deny what?' Joey asked her

'That you're having an affair?'

Joey was stunned at her accusation 'You think I'm having an affair?' he blinked at her

'Aren't you?'

'No!' he frowned at her 'Of course not! You thought I was having an affair?'

'Explain to me disappearing in the middle of the night, coming home at 3:00am, having secret conversations on the phone, calling another woman babe? Asking her if she was missing you already. Telling her that you would call her after you dropped the kids off at school? OR how about lying to me telling me that you were going to work when you didn't?' she frowned at him angrily 'The secret text messages that you got at 3am? The reply that you sent? What was that about?'

Joey closed his eyes and he sighed and he licked his lips and he sat down on the bed and he looked at her 'It's not what you think Lauren' he told her

'Really? Enlighten me then' she said putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him

'I was talking to another woman but.. I haven't been having an affair with her'

'Who is she?'

'A drinks rep, I met her when she came into the club' he said 'I've seen her a few times, we're friends that's all' he looked up at Lauren

'You've seen her where?' Lauren asked him

'We've had lunch a couple of time, dinner, and drinks' he said with a casual shrug

'How long?'

'What?' he asked her

'How long have you been seeing her?'

'I don't know 4 months' he said 'she came into the club and we hit it off' he told her

Lauren looked at him and then turned and opened another drawer and took out some more of his things and stuffed them into the suitcase 'What are you doing?'

'What you tell me that you've been "dating" someone else for four months and you think that everything is okay?' she frowned at him

'I haven't been dating her'

'No? Secret drink and meals, sneaking off to see her, secretive phone calls and texts. Were you going to tell me? I mean is that what you wanted to tell me tonight?'

'No I wanted to talk about something else tonight' he said to her

'Really? So you planned on continuing to see this woman behind my back?'

'Her name is Hannah'

'I didn't ask what her name was and frankly I don't care' she snapped at him 'You've been sneaking around with her behind my back' she told him with an angry frown

'I haven't been sleeping with her'

'No? You honestly expect me to believe that?' Lauren asked him 'you've been seeing her for four months and you haven't mentioned her to me once. Does she know that you have four kids?'

'Yes' he nodded his head

'Does she know that you are married?'

'Yes she does' he nodded his head 'She's seen your pictures' he told her

'What and do you tell her all our problems? Do you cry on her shoulder? Tell her that your wife doesn't understand you or some other shit?'

'Why are you being like this?'

Do you fancy her?' Lauren asked him, Joey didn't reply 'I take it that's a yes? Do you want to sleep with her?

'Yes' he nodded 'but I am not going to because I am married to you…' Lauren cut him off

"Really making me feel special, Joey... you're seeing someone else but you not going to sleep with her because I'm holding you back?' she asked him incredulously

'I love you and I am not going to do anything to risk that, or us'

'You already did' Lauren replied 'I want you out Joey, I'm not kidding around here. I want you to you go'

'You're being ridiculous' he snapped at her 'Its not as though anything has happened'

'So you would be okay with me sneaking around behind your back seeing another man and not telling you anything about it. You would be okay with me being out until 3:00am, with me telling you that I fancied him and that I wanted to have sex with him?'

'Well no … but you did sleep with Tyler'

'We weren't even together then' Lauren frowned feeling herself growing even more angrier with him 'and that was over 16 years ago for fucks sake, so what this is pay back? You sleep with her and it makes us even? I don't think so'

'Lauren stop' he said and he stood up and crossed the room as she started hauling his clothes out of the wardrobe'

'I don't know what's worse, you telling me that you are having an affair or you telling me that you want to?' she frowned at him

'That's not what I'm saying'

'Isn't it?' Lauren spun round to look at him laden with an armful of his clothes 'Because that is what it sounds like to me' she told him 'either that or you're asking for my permission?'

'That's not what I'm asking for' he told her softly 'Lauren…...please'

'Just go Joey' she told him 'I don't want you here … I can't even look at you right now' she shook her head. 'Get out' she shouted at him and she ran into the bathroom and started to pack his things from there too'

'All right, all right I'll go' he told her 'but I will come back tomorrow, when you have calmed down and we will sit down and talk about this rationally like adults' he told her as he took his bathroom bag from her

'That's the second time this week you've accused me of being a child Joey' she frowned at him 'I don't need you…..' she frowned at him 'You can't even discipline the kids properly….'

Joey did up his suitcase and he picked it up off the bed 'I will see you tomorrow' he told her and he left the bedroom. She heard him walk down the stairs, the front door slam and his car engine start up.

Lauren picked up the phone and dialled a number 'Hello, I need to have the locks replaced on my house. I lost the main set of keys and I don't feel safe knowing that they are out there somewhere. Can you come out tonight?...great…..'

**AN: Sorry for the delay in publishing. Have had a hectic week at work.. lots of changes going on and been running round rather like a headless chicken….trying to get my head round the changes, implementing them and more running around like a headless chicken!**

**Anyway …. Do you think Lauren over reacted or was her anger and actions justified? **

**Let me know what you think. **

**Thank you for your reviews…. I will reply to them all tomorrow. R&R as always**

**Back tomorrow. **


	11. Chapter 11

Sarah heard the front door open and she looked up as Joey came into the lounge.

'I didn't expect to see you tonight' she said to him

'Where are the kids?' he asked her

'Hope and Sophie are in their room and the boys have gone to the movies' she told him

'Got room for one more?' Joey asked her

'Why?' Sarah frowned at him

'Lauren and I got into a fight, kind of…she kicked me out' Joey told her 'I'm sure things will blow over and tomorrow everything will be fine once she has calmed down a little bit' he looked at her

'Your old room is free' she told him softly

'Thanks Mum' he said, he carried his suitcase through to the room and put it on the bed. Sarah followed him

'Looks pretty serious if you packed a suitcase'

'I didn't pack it Lauren did' he replied as he sat down

'Even more serious' Sarah said 'Do you want to talk about it?'

'Maybe later' Joey said 'Right not I just want to go to the pub'

'All right, well then I'll see you later?' she asked him and he nodded 'What do I tell the kids?'

'I'll be back when they're in bed' he told her

'Okay'

Meanwhile back at the house, the locksmith had been and Lauren finished packing the rest of Joey's suitcases and carried them down the stairs. She thought about what he had said and she felt nausea rising in her throat, she made it to the kitchen sink and threw up. The tears were streaming down her cheeks, she could hear the phone ringing in the house but she ignored it. She grabbed a bottle of wine and she took it up to the bedroom.

The next morning she woke up at 10:00am and she knew she was going to be sick. She rushed through to the bathroom and dropped to her knees in front of the toilet bowl.

An hour later she was feeling sorry for herself, her head was pounding so she took some painkillers and made herself a cup of tea and sat on the sofa in the lounge. The phone rang causing the pain in her head to increase ten-fold. She got up and she unplugged the phone before returning to her place on the sofa.

She must have dozed off again, she was woken by a pounding on the front door. She stood up and she walked to the door and peered through the peephole in the door and saw a furious Joey.

She picked up his two cases and she went out of the back door, making sure she had the keys in her dressing gown pocket, she walked round to the front of the house and Joey looked at her, she walked to his car and put the cases down before turning to walk back round the house.

'You're not going to talk to me?' he asked her

'I don't think there's anything to say' she told him

'You changed the locks' he told her 'Don't you think we need to talk about that?' he asked her 'This is my house and you are not kicking me out'

'Already have remember?' she asked him

'You look awful Lauren' he said to her softly

'Well you take most of the credit for that' she told him with a frown, he followed her round the back of the house

'We need to talk Lauren' he said 'You're not well, you need me to help you take care of the kids, take care of you'

'I can handle it myself, I've been doing it for long enough'

'What's that supposed to mean?' he snapped at her 'I do my share'

'Really? When is that? When you're working until all hours? That's if you are actually working and not spending time with your drinks rep'

'Her name is Hannah' Joey frowned

'I really don't give a fuck what her name is' she spun round to look at him 'You think that's fair? That I work all day too and then have to come home and take care of the kids, do the house work, the chores, but the groceries, run around after you, and all the time you're having fun with your new friend'

'Lauren it's not like that' he told her 'Nothing has happened between us, nothing will'

'Then stop seeing her' she said to him

'No' Joey shook his head 'You can't tell me who I can and can't see' he told her

'Then you're not stepping foot inside this house' Lauren told him and she turned back towards the door

'You're being ridiculous Lauren' Joey told her 'I've already told you that I am not sleeping with her, that nothing has happened' he frowned at her 'I don't see why you are acting like this? I told you the truth'

'Only because you got found out Joey!' she snapped at him 'You had no intention of telling me anything. And you must have known that what you were doing was wrong or you wouldn't have hidden it from me' she took a deep breath 'and how do you think affairs start Joey?' she asked him and she turned to look at him 'You told me last night that you wanted to sleep with her, that you fancy her and she clearly fancies you and doesn't give a crap that you have 4 children and a wife that love you. You said that the only thing holding you back was me. I'm sorry that being married to me is stopping you from living the life that you want to lead… well I'm not holding you back anymore' she told him. He blinked at her surprised and shocked

'What?' he asked her softly

'You don't want to be with me anymore so…' she let herself inside and locked the door.

'Lauren ….babe I do want to be with you' he replied but she was already near the top of the stairs and she didn't hear him.

Joey put his cases in the car and drove back to his mother's house. He let himself in and he sighed and sat down on the sofa.

Hope came into the room 'Daddy. What are you doing here? I thought you and mum had a weekend planned?' she asked him

Joey looked at his daughter wondering what to tell her. To tell the rest of his kids. He sighed and shook his head taking a deep breath

'I'll talk to you when you're all together' he told her

'Well they're just upstairs I can get them for you' she told him, disappearing before he had a chance to reply.

A few minutes later his four children were standing in the lounge.

Joey swallowed.

**AN: So is Lauren still over reacting?**

**What is Joey going to tell the kids? How will they react? **

**Back tomorrow**

**R&R as always **

**Thank you to Crazychick74 for your help, guidance and support and words! **


	12. Chapter 12

'Well?' Hope said looking at him expectantly 'We're all here'

Joey took a breath and he let it out slowly 'Listen guys. Mum and I have had a fight' he told them as Sarah walked into the room

'Sorry….'

'No mum you better stay too' Joey said to her

'Lauren and I had a fight, a pretty big fight' he said to her and then he looked at his children's faces 'and we've decided that it's best if I move out for a while' he told them all

'No daddy!' Hope frowned at him 'you just apologise and she'll let you back in'

'I have apologised but your mum is upset and you all know how stubborn she can be' Joey said 'and right now she wants her space'

'But what about you what do you want?' she asked him 'Do you want to leave?'

'No of course I don't darling' he told them 'but that's what your mother wants and I need to respect that'

'It's your home too' Hope frowned 'she has no right to throw you out'

'Why did she throw you out?' Connor asked him

'That's between me and your mother' he told him 'just… give your mum support and help her out around the house all right?' he asked them all and he looked at Hope 'and do not give her a hard time. She's still not feeling well'

'Yeah well I'm not going back, I'm staying here with you'

'Hope, please do as I tell you' he told her 'She needs all of you'

'What about you?'

'Hope I'll be fine' he said and he looked at his mother 'When Lauren's calmed down she'll want to talk'

'All right kids, you heard what your dad said' Sarah told them 'Go on into the kitchen, get yourselves something to eat'

One by one the kids filed out and Sarah shut the lounge door behind him 'What happened?'

'Something and nothing' Joey told her 'I just told her that I was seeing someone else, a woman I met called Hannah, a drinks rep I met through the club, she's just a friend mum, nothing has happened between us, I told Lauren that nothing had happened between us but she freaked out' he told her 'I didn't do anything wrong and she's acting like I've been having an affair'

'How long have you been seeing her?'

'About four months' Joey said 'Lauren caught me coming back from seeing her'

'She didn't know that you had arranged to see her?'

'No, she didn't know about her' Joey said

'Why didn't you tell her?' Sarah frowned 'If there's nothing going on between you?'

'I don't know' he shook his head 'Hannah's made it clear that she wants more and I made it clear that I was happily married to Lauren…well I was'

'Joey, if there was nothing to hide you wouldn't have hidden it from Lauren. Do you have feelings for this other woman?'

'Yes' Joey nodded 'I do'

'And did you happen to tell Lauren that?'

'Yes, I was being honest with her' he replied and he looked at his wedding ring 'She asked me to stop seeing her and I told her I wouldn't'

Sarah took a deep breath 'Do you love Lauren?'

'Of course I do' Joey looked at her

'Are you still in love with her?'

'Yes' Joey nodded his head 'I would do anything for her. You know that, she knows that'

Sarah nodded 'Anything except to stop seeing the woman you have feelings for' Sarah said to him 'No wonder she's kicked you out, I would have done the same'

'What? Why?'

'Because you want to have your cake and eat it Joey' she told him 'Do you remember the part in your wedding vows where you promised to forsake all others?'

Joey frowned 'She's just a friend, I have fun with her, she makes me laugh and she makes me feel ….special'

'And Lauren doesn't?' she asked him 'Your wife doesn't'

'Of course she does, but it's different, new' he told her as he licked his lips

'Do you remember how you felt when you thought you had lost Lauren?' she asked him 'Hoe you felt as though your whole world had crumbled around your ears?'

'Yes of course I do' he told her

'Then you have an idea about how Lauren is feeling right now' she told him 'I'm not going to tell you what to do Joey, but you need to have a good long hard think about what it is that you want. Because right now, I'm not convinced that it's Lauren' she told him

Joey frowned at her 'Of course I want Lauren'

'Yeah? Then prove it' Sarah said with a sigh, 'Put yourself in her shoes. How would you be feeling right now if she had told you that she had been seeing another man behind your back and she had feelings for him?' she frowned at him 'You know that you wouldn't like it. You know that you would tell her to stop seeing him' she licked her lips 'you said that she wasn't feeling well?'

'She thinks she's going through the menopause' Joey told her

'At 39? That's highly unlikely' Sarah said to him 'has she been to the doctors?'

'She won't go' Joey said to her 'I've tried to get her to but she's too stubborn'

'What symptoms has she got?'

'She's been getting really bad headaches, she's having severe mood swings' Joey told her 'She's always tired. Can fall asleep at the drop of the hat but when she wakes up she's still tired. She's tearful most of the time, she's lost her appetite'

'Is she still having periods?'

'Yes but she says that they are light' he looked at his mother and saw her frowning 'What? What are you thinking?'

'And then you drop this on top of her?' Sarah frowned at him 'No wonder she doesn't want anything to do with you' she shook her head at him and she got up and left the room.

Lauren looked at herself in the mirror, she looked terrible. She showered and she dressed and she put on a little bit of makeup, she got into her car and she drove to Walford. She parked outside her parent's house, she sat in the car and she took a deep breath letting it out slowly. She checked her reflection in the mirror and then got out of the car and went in search of Tyler.

She couldn't find Tyler so went into the Vic and she saw Lucy and Peter. She brought a coke and carried t over to their table

'Do you mind if I join you?' she asked them

'Of course not' Peter said and Lucy shook her head. Lauren sat down and she took a sip of her coke and Lucy looked at her

'Are you okay?' she asked her

'No not really' she said shaking her head

'Do you want to talk about it?'

'To be honest I wouldn't know where to start' she told Lucy 'Listen, I know this is coming out of the blue, but do you want to go out tonight?' she asked Lucy 'We could go to dinner, or to the cocktail bar we used to go to?'

'Yeah I'd like that' Lucy nodded with a smile 'How about we go to the cocktail bar? They serve food there now'

Lauren nodded 'Okay great say about 8:00pm?' she asked

'8:00pm sounds great, do you want meet there?'

'Yeah' Lauren nodded 'So come on tell me what's happening in your lives?' she said

**AN: Sarah told Joey a few home truths. How will he react? **

**Why does Lauren want to have dinner with Lucy? How will Joey react when he finds out? **

**More later**

**Thanks for all your reviews**

**Back later**

**R&R as always **


	13. Chapter 13

Later that night Lauren and Lucy were in the cocktail bar, Lucy watched her friend as she went to the bar to get some more drinks, a very cute guy started to flirt with Lauren and Lucy watched as Lauren flirted openly back with him. Lucy was surprised when Lauren handed the guy her phone and he obviously entered his phone number in for her. He smiled at her when his order came in and then took the drinks off to his friends. Lauren returned to the table and she gave Lucy her drink

'What was that?' she asked Lauren

'What?' Lauren asked her innocently as she took a drink

'That guy at the bar. The one you were flirting with, did he give you his phone number?'

'Yeah he did' Lauren nodded with a smile 'He was pretty cute wasn't he?'

'He looked about 12'

'He's 27' Lauren replied 'Divorced with a 3 year old son called Adam'

'And did you tell him that you were married with four kids and that you are 39?' Lucy asked as she glanced over at the table the gut and his friend were sitting at. One of them looked up at her and winked. She blushed and looked away.

'No I told him that I was separated with 4 kids and he told me that I didn't look anywhere near 39' she smiled back at Lucy 'He said that I didn't look a day over 28'

'Well that's true you don't' Lucy said 'Wait separated?' she frowned 'When did that happen?'

A couple of days ago' Lauren said with a shrug as if it was no big deal

'What happened?'

'He's seeing someone else' Lauren replied

'Joey? No I'm sure that you are wrong' Lucy shook her head 'He loves you. Worships that ground that you walk on'

'Well now he worships that ground that Hannah walks on'

'Hannah?' Lucy raised her eyes brows

'Drinks rep he met at the club'

'He's sleeping with her?'

'He says he says he's not, but he told me that he wants to'

'So what happened? Did he leave you for her?'

'I kicked him out' Lauren told her as she picked at the remains of her dinner

'You kicked him out?' Lucy looked at her 'And gave him an excuse to sleep with her' Lucy frowned at Lauren, 'You've practically pushed him towards her, you may as well have turned down the sheets on the bed for them' Lucy shook her head 'Lauren you need to talk to Joey, you need to tell him in no uncertain terms that he kicks this other woman to the kerb'

'I did that. He said he wouldn't stop seeing her' she replied 'So I told him to go, I packed his cases and changed the locks on the house' she told her

'You know that he's going to tell this Hannah that he's told you about her, that you've kicked him out?'

'So?'

'Well, if that were me, then that would give me the green light to step things up a little' she told Lauren 'Dinner at my place, being understanding and sympathetic, plying him with alcohol before moving in for the kill' she said

'So you're saying that he's going to sleep with her?'

'It's a possibility Lauren yeah' she nodded

Lauren looked down at her rings on her fingers and she slid them off and put them into her bag 'Well if Joey wants to pretend that he's single then so will I' she replied 'I'm still attractive enough to get a date, see how he likes it'

Lucy shook her head 'You are playing a very dangerous game Lauren' Lucy told her

'Yeah well Joey started it' Lauren replied with a frown.

'I don't want to see you get hurt Lauren' Lucy told her softly and she reached across the table and squeezed her friends hand 'You and Joey belong together'

'Yeah? Shame Joey doesn't think so' she replied softly.

**AN: So Lauren's gone from angry and upset to being vengeful and possibly stupid!**

**Do you think she's making a mistake? **

**How is Joey going to react when he finds out? **

**Thanks for your reviews**

**R&R as always **

**Back later **


	14. Chapter 14

Joey dropped the kids back at the house Sunday evening. They had to ring the doorbell as their keys didn't work.

Hope pushed passed her nearly causing her to fall to the floor, the rest of the kids followed.

Joey stood on the doorstep looking at her 'Do you need me to pick up the kids next week? Take them to school?' he asked her

'Nope' Lauren replied

'Look I've talked to the kids, I didn't tell them exactly what the issue is but I've told them that you needed some space and I've asked you to help them around the house'

'Well that's very thoughtful of you' Lauren replied frostily

'Can I come in for a while? We can talk?'

'Talk about what?' Lauren asked him

'This is ridiculous Lauren, I haven't done anything wrong. You are being unfair'

'Am I?' Lauren said nodding her head 'You can have the kids Wednesday after school, drop them back here at 11:00pm' she told him and she closed the door in his face.

Joey sighed and walked back to his car and he drove back to the square.

Lauren went to find Hope. She was in her room, Lauren knocked and she went inside and she closed the door, 'The punishment that your dad gave you no longer stands' Lauren told her 'Here is your phone and I've reconnected the WIFI. Here are my car keys and when you come back from school tomorrow I thought we could go to see if we can find you a car of your own' she told Hope as she put the car keys and phone down on the table by the door.

Hope blinked at her 'What?'

'I need your help around here Hope, with your brothers and sisters, I'll give you another £50 allowance a month and extend your curfew to 1:00am on weekends' she told her

'You're trying to bribe me?' Hope frowned at her 'So I will take your side over daddy's'

'You are the oldest Hope I would have expected a little understanding from you. Everything is not cut and dried'

'You kicked daddy out and he didn't want to leave, he said you were being stubborn and mean'

'Did he' Lauren asked her 'and did he tell you the reason that I kicked him out?'

'No, but I bet it's because you're a frigid bitch' Hope said 'You can stuff your fucking car and the one you want to try and bribe me with and the money. You made this fucking mess you can deal with it. This is your fucking problem not mine' Lauren nodded and she picked up the phone and the car keys and put them in your pocket. 'I wanted to stay with daddy, but he said that you needed me more'

Lauren licked her lips 'You want to stay with your father?' Lauren asked her

'Yes I do. I don't want to stay here with you. You are fucking awful mother'

Lauren nodded and she walked out of her room and into her bedroom and she pulled a suitcase out from the closet and she walked back into Hopes room and she put the suitcase on the bed and began to pack up Hopes clothes, one drawer at a time'

'What are you doing?' Hope frowned at her

'Packing your things' Lauren replied

She picked up Hope's school bag and she put in her laptop and her school books and her IPOD and her toiletries and zipped it up. Hope watched her with a worried expression on her face. Lauren moved to the wardrobe next and she pulled the clothes off of hangers and he put them into the suitcase too.

'That won't do up' Hope said knowing that Lauren was bluffing, she had something similar when she was thirteen after a row and told her that she wanted to live with her grandparents. Lauren had flipped and had packed her suit cases then too.

Lauren went back to her room and returned with another suitcase and put the clothes in there and then zipped it up. 'Anything else that you want to take with you?' Lauren asked her

Hope swallowed and she shook her head 'Good'

Lauren picked up the three bags and she took them downstairs and she put them outside the house, she returned to Hope's room and she grabbed Hope's arm and dragged her off the bed and down the stairs.

'What are you doing?' Hope frowned at her. The rest of the kids were watching with worried expressions on their faces. Lauren opened the front door, grabbing Hope's jacket on the way out. 'You're hurting me!' Lauren dragged Hope outside

'You want to go live with your precious father, then go' Lauren told her with a frown

'You're kicking me out too?'

'No. You asked to go' Lauren said to her

'How am I supposed to get there with all this stuff?' Hope said her eyes filling with tears.

Lauren looked at her 'That's not my fucking problem' Lauren snapped at her 'I don't know what I did to have such a selfish, nasty, spiteful, ungrateful little shit of daughter like you' Lauren frowned at her 'You think that you are grown up that you can live with your father? Then you go, go live with your father. I'm sure you and his new girlfriend will get on just fine'

'Daddy's seeing someone else?' Hope asked her as the tears rolled down her face.

'Did your precious father miss that part out hey?' Lauren asked her 'Do you know that I nearly lost you, when I was pregnant with you? I was hit by a car and Joey had to choose which of us to save, if it came down to it. Do you know who he chose hey?'

'Me?' Hope said

Lauren laughed at her and she shook her head 'No sweetie. He chose me' Lauren heart clench at the sight of hurt and pain that crossed Hope's face, more tears fell. 'And I wish to god that I had lost you' Lauren said before she could stop herself 'Now get off my fucking property or I'll call the police' lauren told her and she threw Hope's phone at her and slammed the door and locked it. Hope bange on the door and Lauren turned off the outside light. She could hear her daughter crying brokenly though the door, apologising and begging Lauren to let her back in.

Lauren looked at her other children 'Anyone else want to live with your father?' the three of them shook their heads.

'James, call him and tell him to come and pick up Hope. She is not stepping foot back in this house and neither is your father' she told them

'Is he really cheating on us?' James asked her

'Yes' Lauren replied 'I'm going to bed' she told them and she walked up the stairs and into her room. She climbed onto the bed, gathering the pillow into her arms and she cried.

James called Joey and he told him what had happened and in turn Joey told him that he was on his way over. James then went outside to Hope who was sitting on her suitcases hugging her knees, tears were streaming down her face.

'Dad's on his way' he told her softly 'Mum asked me to call him'

'I want to come back inside' Hope told him

'Sorry, You shouldn't speak to mum the way that you do' he told her 'She's been nothing but fair to you to all of us'

Hope raised her head to look at him 'She hates me'

'Do you blame her?' James replied 'you treat her like crap Hope'

'She swore at me'

'You swear at her all the time, you don't like it when she gives it back out to you?'

'Is it true what she said? That daddy's seeing someone else?'

'She wouldn't lie about that Hope. Mum doesn't lie' he said softly

'She said she didn't want me'

'No she said she wished she never had you, there's a difference and you pushed her buttons Hope, just like you always do. Is it any surprise that you got a reaction? You know that she's not ben feeling well lately, and on top of everything else dad is cheating on her and you act like it's her fault, like everything is her fault.'

'Can I talk to her?' she looked at James hopefully

'No. She doesn't want you in the house' he told her 'and I can't say that I blame her. I love you, you are my sister but mum doesn't need to be dealing with you and your temper tantrums right now, she's got enough to deal with' he said

A few minutes later Joey pulled up in the car 'What happened? Where's your mother?' he asked them

'She's gone to bed' James told him 'And no dad you can't come in' he shook his head

Joey looked at Hope 'Come on let's get your things in the car hey?' he asked her

She stood up with a sniff and she looked at her brother 'Will you tell mum that I am sorry?'

'No. This is your mess Hope you get to sort it out for yourself' he told her quietly. He turned towards the door and he reached for the handle.

'Mum said that you are seeing someone else' he heard Hope ask their father 'is it true?'

Joey blinked and James turned back to look at him 'She's just a friend that's all'

'That's what Sadie Roberts father told his mother, they're getting divorced now' Hope said and she picked up a bag and walked to the car.

'What happened James?' Joey asked him

'Hope mouthed off at mum like she always does when you're not around, swearing at her, calling her names, blaming mum for you leaving, told her that she wanted to live with you… and mum, well I guess she had enough' he told him, he licked his lips 'Are you and mum going to get a divorce?' he asked him

'No of course not' Joey said shaking his head 'I love your mother so much…'

'Then why are you seeing someone else?' James asked him, Joey had no answer 'Mum said something's to Hope…she was angry and hurt and …. She said that she wished she had lost Hope when she had the accident and that when you were given the choice of who to save you chose Lauren.' James said. Joey closed his eyes and he nodded

'Thank you for telling me. How's mum?'

'Upset' James replied 'We all are dad'

Joey nodded 'Look I'd better go, I'll deal with Hope and I'll see you soon buddy okay?' he asked his son.

James nodded 'I don't want to meet her' James told him

'Who?' Joey frowned

'The other woman' James said to him 'None of us do. I hope you're happy dad' he told him and he opened the door and he went inside.

Joey licked his lips and he turned to the car and he got in and he drove back to Albert Square.

**AN: Hope pushed her mother a little too far. Was Lauren justified in her actions? **

**Has Joey realised yet the repercussions on his actions or is it going to take more for him to see what he has done? **

**Enjoy. **

**Thanks for your reviews and as always R&R **

**Laters**


	15. Chapter 15

Joey drove home quietly as Hope cried silently beside him.

'So what happened Hope and don't tell me nothing' he said to her 'I asked you to be there to support your mother and help her'

'I didn't do anything' Hope lied

'That's not what James said' Joey replied 'He said and I quote _**"Hope mouthed off at mum like she always does when you're not around, swearing at her, calling her names, blaming mum for you leaving, told her that she wanted to live with you… and mum, well I guess she had enough"**_ so is that true?' he asked her 'and don't lie to me please'

'She said that she wished I hadn't been born' Hope told him and she cried harder

Joey frowned at her 'I know Lauren better than you do, she doesn't have a mean or vindictive bone in her body. The only time she says or does something to hurt someone is when she's been hurt by them so many times that she can't stand it anymore. And right now she is probably feeling a lot worse than you do believe me' he frowned at her

'I tried to apologise but she wouldn't let me into the house'

'I haven't got time to be dealing with this right now. I was on my way out' he told her

'Where'

'For drinks with a friend' he replied

'Who? The woman you've been seeing?'

'Yes as a matter of fact I am' he nodded his head

'Why?'

'Because that's what friends do' he told her with a sigh 'Look I do not have to explain my actions to you'

'But you do to mum' Hope replied 'Is that why she threw you out?'

'You are grounded Hope for 2 months, no phone and no allowance' he told her 'You can walk to and from school and when your 2 months is up you can get a part time job' he said to her

'But daddy'

'But daddy nothing. It's about time you started acting like a grown up Hope' he frowned at her as they pulled up outside Sarah's house. He stopped the engine and he grabbed her cases from the boot of the car and carried them into the house.

'Another house guest' Joey told her 'Lauren's thrown Hope out too' he said 'Look I have to go …'

'I think your family is a little more important than your social life Joey' Sarah said to him

Joey looked at her 'I'll be quiet when I come in' he said and he walked out of the house

Hope looked at her grandmother and burst into tears.

Joey sat in his car outside the house with the engine running. He frowned and he sighed, pulling out his phone, he dialled a number and waited for the person to answer, it went to voicemail.

'Babe it's me. I know that you're mad at me, but please, please call me back. I love you' he left a message and he hung up and he dialled another number.

In a cocktail bar in the Westend a phone rang close to where Lucy and Peter were sitting

'Please tell me that you are on your way' Hannah's voice came over the line.

'I can't' Joey replied 'I'm sorry but I can't see you anymore' he told her

'Oh? Why?'

'I'm married' Joey reminded her

'We're not doing anything wrong Joey' Hannah told him. Lucy's ear pricked up at the mention of his name. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and pretended to be looking at numbers, instead she took a picture of Hannah.

Joey took a deep breath and he let it out slowly 'No maybe not right now, but we want to' he said 'and I can't do that Lauren or to the kids' he told her 'They're my whole world and I can't lose them' he said 'that is if I haven't already'

Hannah sighed 'I'm sorry to hear that' she told him 'I would never have made you choose between me or your family. I am sorry that your wife has'

'I shouldn't have put myself in this position' Joey replied 'I love my wife'

'Do you? Then why were you so keen to see me to start with if you are so in love with your wife? She sounds like a controlling bitch' Hannah asked him

'She isn't' Joey frowned 'You don't know her'

'I only know what you've told me, I made my own assumptions about the kind of woman that she is' Hannah replied 'Look baby, you know that you and I would be so good together, we have fun, we laugh, we get on well together, just imagine how amazing the sex would be. Look come on come out for one drink? You sound tense'

Joey closed his eyes 'I can't' he told her again 'Don't call me again' he said and he hung up the phone.

Lucy smiled as she saw anger on Hannah's face and then felt a shiver of fear as a sly smile spread across her face. Lucy swallowed, she knew that look, she'd worn that look a few times when she had an idea about breaking Lauren and Joey up.

Lucy knew that she had to warn Lauren and Joey.

Back at Lauren's, Sophie had brought Lauren up a cup of tea and she climbed into bed with her mother. A few minutes later, James and Connor got in too.

**AN: So has Joey finally come to his senses? But is it too late? What does Hannah have planned? And will Lucy warn Joey and Lauren and if she does will they believe her? **

**Back later**

**Thanks for your reviews**

**R&R as always **


	16. Chapter 16

The next morning Lauren woke at 8:00am, she realised that she was late letting the kids up and making their breakfast. She also realised that she had slept in her clothes. She rushed downstairs and found that James, Sophie and Connor were already up and dressed and were just cleaning up their breakfast things. Their lunches were made too.

Lauren blinked 'I'm sorry I overslept' she told them all

'It's okay mum. You're entitled to lie in. We're big enough to sort ourselves out.' Sophie said

'Here' James put a cup of coffee on the bar and Sophie put a plate of eggs and toast and Connor put an orange juice down 'we made you breakfast for a change' he smiled at her

'Thank you' Lauren smiled at them and she sat down.

'We looked at the chores and we've split them between us' Sophie said to her 'We put a new chart up on the fridge so we take it in turns, Connor is blue, James is red and I am purple'

'Who's yellow?' Lauren asked

'You are yellow' Sophie said to her

'There's hardly any yellow on there' Lauren said to them as she studied the plan

'That's because you need to take things easy until you start to feel better' Sophie said to her, someone knocked on the door and James got up to answer it.

'Hello. I'm Lucy I'm a friend of your mothers'

'Come on in Luce' Lauren called out, James let her in and she followed him to the breakfast bar 'James, honey pour Lucy a coffee' she said 'Sit down' Lauren said to her

'Thanks' Lucy said as James gave her a coffee 'Mm this is good'

Connor beamed 'I made the coffee' he told her

'Best coffee I ever had' Lucy smiled back at him

'They heard a car horn outside and Lauren frowned 'Who's that?'

'Riley's mum, we called her this morning and asked her if we could have a ride to and from school as you haven't been feeling well lately and she said that that was the least she could do after everything that you did for her when she was in the hospital' Sophie said to her with a smile. 'Boys have you got your bags?' Sophie asked her brothers

'Yep' they called back in unison

'Okay mum all you have to do is out your plates in the dishwasher and don't worry about dinner, I got some steaks out and I'll cook them when I get home' Sophie said to her and she walked round to her mother and hugged her and kissed her cheek, 'Love you mum' she told her 'Maybe Lucy can persuade you to go to the doctors?' she looked at Lucy and she nodded

'I love you too Sophie, all of you' she said, James and Connor both hugged and kissed Lauren too and then they left the house.

'Wow what well behaved kids you have' Lucy said 'Helpful too' and then she frowned 'Where's Hope?'

'With Joey' lauren said to her 'She kicked off when she got back last night, started swearing at me calling me all the name under the sun and insisted that she wanted to go and live with her father so I packed her bags and I kicked her out' Lauren told her 'After I swore at her and told her that I wished that she had never been born' Lauren added sheepishly

'Good for you' Lucy said to her 'I wish I had the guts to do that to Steven's daughter when she stayed with us, who is a little brat!'

'I'm sure she's not that bad'

'Peter wanted to kill her, and you know how placid and laid back Peter is' she told her 'Let Joey deal with her for a change'

'She's as good as gold around him' Lauren said 'But as soon as he is out of that door then she turns into the child from hell'

Lucy took a sip of coffee as Lauren pushed her plate away 'So you haven't been feeling well?' Lucy asked her

'No not for a while' Lauren shook her head 'I think I might be going through the menopause'

'At 39?' Lucy said and she shook her head 'No that's impossible, when did your mum go through hers?'

'I don't think she has, she's only 56' Lauren told her

'You know that they say in most cases that the age that your mother goes through the menopause is the age that you should' Lucy said to her 'I'll make a doctor's appointment for you' she said 'I'll come with you'

'I don't need a doctor's appointment, I am sure that once things settle down here I'll start to feel better' she told her, she felt nauseous suddenly and clamped her hand over her mouth and darted to the sink and threw up. 'I'll make that appointment' Lucy said to her

An hour later, Lucy was reading a magazine in the doctor's reception waiting for Lauren to come out of the doctor's office. Lauren had already been in with the doctor for 20 minutes. Lucy sighed and put the magazine down and looked up just as Lauren came out of the doctor's office, she looked pale and Lucy could tell that she had been crying.

'Lauren what is it?' Lucy asked her and she leapt up and put her arms around her. Lauren looked at her and she shook her head

'Not here' she told her and they walked outside to the car. Lauren looked at Lucy 'He's referred me to the hospital' Lauren told her 'He said that I had to go now'

'Okay I'll drive you there' Lucy said and she started the car, Lauren wept quietly in the car on the way to the hospital 'Do you want me to call anyone?' she asked her 'Joey?'

'No… my mum' Lauren said to her

'Okay' they arrived at the hospital and Lucy called Tanya and explained where they were and that Lauren wanted her here, Tanya told her that she would be there as soon as possible.

Lauren handed the letter over to the receptionist once they reached the department and she was taken into a room. They took some blood tests and a urine tests and then she was told that she would have to wait until the results came back.

Twenty minutes later Tanya popped her head through the door 'Lauren?'

'Mum' Lauren burst into tears at the sight of her

'Oh darling what's wrong hey?' she said as she sat on the bed and gathered Lauren into her arms 'Its okay I'm here, I've got you'

Lauren explained her symptoms to her and what she had assumed that it was, she told her that the doctor told her that he thought it was unlikely and seemed to think that it was a hormonal imbalance which could be caused by a brain tumour, and that he had sent her here to have a CAT Scan and a MRI. But that they nurse had taken some blood and urine first and that she was waiting for the results.

'Where's Joey?'

'I don't want to worry him in case it's nothing' Lauren lied to her as the consultant came back in with a clip board. Lauren thought he looked serious. She swallowed and she looked at her mother and clasped her hand tightly in her.

'Mrs Branning, We've got the results of your blood tests and urine samples, your hormone levels are way off kilter, more so than normal than we would normally expect to see' he told her 'We believe that you do have a pituitary brain tumour which is affecting your hormones and explains that symptoms that you've been having'

'Is it treatable?' Lauren asked him in a small voice

'Yes it is but under the circumstances, I am waiting for my colleague to come up so I can have a consultation with him and we discuss the treatment options.'

'Is there something else wrong with me?' Lauren asked him

'Why don't I let my consultant talk with you when he arrives' he told her 'Try not to worry' he told her and he walked out of the room.

Tanya looked at her daughter 'Maybe I should call Joey?' she asked Lauren 'He should be here. We can make arrangements for the kids between me and your father and Sarah'

Lauren swallowed 'Let's just wait until we know what we are dealing with okay?' she asked her mother, Tanya nodded

'Okay'

**AN: So Lauren's symptoms are being caused by a brain tumour. What else is wrong with Lauren as if that wasn't enough? And how long can she put off telling her mother the truth about her and Joey before her mother demands that Lauren calls him. **

**Thanks for all your reviews **

**R&R as always **

**Later…..**


	17. Chapter 17

They had to wait another 20 minutes before they got any more news, the two consultants entered the room and Lauren looked up at them.

'Mrs Branning I am Dr Anderson from Obstetrics and you've already met my colleague Dr Michaels from Neurology' Dr Anderson introduced himself 'Dr Michael's consulted with me on your case because you are five months pregnant and …'

'What?' Lauren looked at him 'No I'm not pregnant' Lauren told him shaking her head 'You must have got the wrong patient or the test results have got mixed up' she said

'Are you sure that you aren't pregnant?' Dr Anderson said to her

'Yes I haven't had any symptoms. I've still been having my periods' she told him

'Okay, then we'll arrange for an ultrasound scan just to be sure' he replied

'How long is this going to take?'

'I'll try and be as quick as we can' he smiled at her

They left the room again and Lauren lay back against the pillow and closed her eyes. Covering her face with her hands as she felt the tears stinging the back of her eyes.

Meanwhile at the club, Joey was supposed to be going through the books in the back office, instead he was staring at the picture of Lauren that he had on his desk, thinking back to happier times, when he thought about her his heart beat faster in his chest, he would get excited at the prospect of seeing her after a long day at work, he would smile when he heard her telling the kids off or telling them how proud she was of them, he was still in love with Lauren , of that he had no doubt and he had let some silly infatuation that he had with a woman nearly half Lauren's age nearly wreck his relationship with his wife, with his soul mate, suddenly everything became crystal clear to him, he was being unfair, he was being sneaky and he knew that if the circumstances were reversed he would be just as upset as Lauren was. More so probably if he was brutally honest. He sighed and he traced Lauren's face with his fingers and he smiled, he couldn't stand the thought of anyone else touching Lauren, he knew that she felt the same way about him. He felt guilty about what he had put her through and he vowed to make it up to her.

Once he figured out how to.

He knew that he had been a fool, more than a fool, he had been an absolute moron.

He heard someone come in and the door close and lock behind them. He looked up and part of him hoped that it was Lauren, but it wasn't it was Hannah standing there, wearing a tight extremely short black dress, low cut and heels. He swallowed and he looked at her.

'What are you doing here?' he asked her 'I thought I made it clear that I couldn't see you again' he said and he licked his lips

'I thought we could have one last lunch together' she said and she held up a picnic basket.

'That's not a good idea' he told her as he phone rang, he glanced at it and he saw that it was Lauren calling him. 'I have to get this, can you please leave' he told her

'Hey' Joey said as he answered the phone 'I was hoping that you would call after you got my voicemail'

'I didn't listen to the voicemail … Joey I need you…'

'Red or white Joey?' she heard a woman's voice in the back ground

'Are you with her?' she asked him and he heard the tone change in her voice 'you know what Joey forget it I don't need you' she snapped at him and she hung up the phone

'Lauren … babe' he frowned and he turned to look at Hannah 'What the hell did you do that for?' he glared at her

'I was just asking you if you wanted red or white wine that's all' she said innocently 'I didn't know that it was your wife on the phone'

'You may have just ruined the chance that I had to get back with her'

'She kicked you out?' Hannah said and she smiled 'Well that changes the game a little she said and she walked over to him and slid her hands up his chest and circle them around his neck and leant in for a kiss. Joey frowned and he pulled back and he grabbed her wrists and pulled them off his neck

'Is this all this is to you a game?' he asked her 'My marriage is at stake here'

'Oh come on honey' she smiled at him coyly 'You wouldn't have been so eager to go out with me if things were happy at home, in the bedroom' she said to him 'you were the one that asked me out first remember?'

'Yeah I remember and clearly I made a mistake and now I am asking you to leave' he told her with a frown and he walked to the door and he unlocked it and he opened it. She licked her lips and she looked at him and she pick up the hamper and she walked through the door

'You regret this' she told him

'I already do' he said 'But not the way that you mean' he said and he slammed the door in her face.

He crossed back to his desk and he picked the phone up and he dialled Lauren's number but she wouldn't pick up the phone.

He sighed grabbing his car keys and he left the club. He went to the house and the gallery and then to her office but she wasn't there, they hadn't seen her there all day. He frowned wondering where she could be. He drove back to the house and he waited there in the car.

Four hours later, Lucy and Tanya pulled up behind and beside him. He saw Lauren in the front seat of her mother's car and she got out and she walked to the door. Her mother and Lucy followed her. Joey climbed out of the car

'Lauren?' he frowned seeing how pale she looked, that she had clearly been crying, he swallowed 'Lauren what's wrong honey?' he asked her

'She doesn't want to talk to you Joey' Lucy said as Lauren and her mother disappeared into the house

'What are you doing here?' he frowned at her

'Supporting Lauren' she told him 'Look Joey, I know that you and I have had our differences in the past and I know that you don't like me and I don't blame you, but I am going to give you some advice. Lauren's told me about you and Hannah and I was in the cocktail bar with Peter when you called her and blew her off and she wasn't happy about it' she told him 'In fact she had the same look that I used to get when I thought of a way to try and break you and Lauren up' she said and she looked down briefly 'Lauren needs you Joey, she loves you, but if you don't feel the same for her then you need to let her go'

'Of course I love her, I told Hannah that I didn't want to see her again, she just turned up at my office today when Lauren called..'

'I know Lauren told me' Lucy said 'She was heartbroken Joey' she took a deep breath 'She's not going to let you in tonight' Lucy said to him 'but Tanya and I are working on her so…'

'Why are you helping us?' he asked her his suspicions aroused

'Because you and Lauren belong together' Lucy told him softly 'Took me long enough to figure that out but it's true, she makes you happy and you make her happy'

'I did' he said 'Not sure if I do now' he told her and he sighed 'Look can you give her these?' he asked her and he reached into his car and he pulled out a bunch of pink carnations.

'Yes I will give them to her' she told him with a smile. 'Be careful of Hannah okay?' she said to him.

'Thanks Lucy'

**AN: So it would appear that Joey has come to his senses, but is Hannah going to take no for an answer?**

**Is Lauren going to let him back in to her house, into her life? **

**Lucy is an unlikely ally, perhaps she wants to make amends for all the trouble that she had caused for the couple in the past.**

**Thanks for all your reviews **

**R&R as always **

**Later **


	18. Chapter 18

Lucy watched Joey drive away and then went into the house. Lauren was on the sofa with her mother.

'Joey brought you these' she said 'Looks like he's been waiting out there for a while judging by the look of the flowers' and she looked at Lauren 'I'll put them in water' she said, she pulled off the envelope and she held it out to Lauren, she was just staring straight ahead of her, Tanya took it and she put it on the sofa next to her.

'Thanks Lucy'

'I'll make some coffee too' she told Tanya

Tanya nodded and Lucy went into the kitchen.

Tanya looked at her daughter 'Talk to me Lauren?' she said softly 'What are you thinking?'

'There's just so much going on in my head right now' Lauren said to her 'I can't pin any down to dwell on it long enough to actually say anything'

'Max is on his way over' she told her softly 'and you father and I will stay here for a couple of days and help out with the kids'

'The kids! What am I going tell the kids?' she asked her 'I thought I was going through the menopause and now I have to tell them that I have a brain tumour'

'A benign brain tumour' Tanya reminded her 'which is good news'

'It's still a brain tumour mum, in my head' she said and she looked at her 'I really want Joey' she told her

'Then call him darling'

'No I want him to be here because he wants to be not because he feels that he has to be' Lauren said to him

'You really need to tell him Lauren, he deserves to know; he has a right to know'

'He lost all rights when he started seeing bitch face' Lauren said as Lucy came back with the coffee

'Also known as Hannah' Lucy said and she put a coffee in Lauren's hand and handed one to Tanya and she sat next to Lauren. 'Whatever you need to me to do Lauren I'll do it, I am here for you; you know that right?' she asked her and Lauren looked at her and she smiled weakly and nodded

'Can you have the brain tumour for me?' she said half seriously

If I could I would' Lucy nodded and Lauren reached out and she squeezed her hand

Lauren nodded and she looked down at the coffee 'So what do I tell the kids' she asked her mother

'I don't think we tell them anything until we've figured out what we're going to do' she said to her 'You heard the treatment options, you've got them written down, when the kids have gone to bed we will go through the options' she told Lauren

'And what about the baby?' Lauren asked her 'Do I tell them that I'm pregnant and I didn't even know? That's going to go down well with Sophie'

'Sophie?'

'I found a pregnancy test in her room when I was emptying the bins. Joey had a talk to her and it turn out she thought she was pregnant but she wasn't, She only had sex once because Hope told her it was amazing and told her that she should try it' Lauren frowned 'You know she told Sophie that she has sex all the time, I made Joey lecture Sophie on safe sex and now I'm the one pregnant and five months at that' she frowned and she leant forward and she put her cup on the coffee table. 'Turns out that Joey and I were the ones being irresponsible' Lauren frowned.

'Accidents happen honey' Tanya said 'You and Oscar are proof of that', both Lauren and Lucy gave her a "what did you just say look" and Tanya frowned 'Very happy and welcome mistakes and that sounded so much better in my head' she said 'I'm sorry darling you know what I mean' she said 'Your father and I love you very much you know that'

Lauren sighed and nodded 'I know' she said and she licked her lips

'I think you need to call Joey' Lucy said to her 'I talked to him little outside, he told me that he told Hannah ….' Lauren glared at her 'Sorry, bitchface, that he didn't want to see her anymore, I was there at the cocktail bar when he called her, I overheard her say Joey's name and after the call she didn't look happy. Joey told me that she just turned up at his office at lunch time and he told her to go, that he wanted to be with you' Lucy said to her 'You need to tell Joey that you are pregnant, this is his baby too' she told her

'Lucy's right Lauren' Tanya said to her 'Why don't you read what he has to say in his letter and then give him a call hey?' she said as the doorbell rang 'That'll be Max, I'll let him in and tell him what's going on, Lucy why don't you see about sorting something out for dinner?'

'Okay'

'The steaks….' Lauren said softly 'Sophie got steaks out'

'I'll deal with it Lauren, don't worry' Lucy said and she got up with her coffee and she walked into the kitchen.

Lauren sat back on the sofa and she looked at the envelope, the way her name was scrawled across the front in Joey's familiar hand writing. She turned it over and then ripped it open.

"Babe

I'm sorry for everything. I made yet another terrible stupid mistake and I hurt you again. All I ever seem to do is to hurt you. I hate that I do that. I hate even more that my stupid behaviour means that we are apart.

I would move heaven and earth for you, you know that. At least I hope you do because I haven't really shown that to you lately.

I was thinking, if you wanted to have another baby, maybe we could look into adopting? I got some information off the internet and I think that it's something we could do that we should consider, I know that it wouldn't be a baby that we made together but I know that we love him or her as if it were our own.

I miss you, I miss the kids, I miss you more.

Please call me baby, I want to come home to you, I want to be with you, forever.

You are my everything and I know that I risked that and I know that you may not want to forgive me but I am begging you, please, please forgive me.

I swear on my life that nothing happened with me and Hannah. I regret even considering that I wanted it to.

You are the only girl for me.

I love you heart body and soul.

Call me please.

Joey xxxxxx"

Lauren wiped the tears away from her face and she picked up her mobile and she dialled his number. He answered before the first ring had finished

'Lauren?'

'Hi' she said quietly, he knew that she was crying

'I love you' Joey told her softly

'I love you too Joey' she replied through her tears 'I need you to come over' she told him 'I have some things that I need to tell you' she said and she looked at the clock 'Before the kids get home from school'

She heard him snatch some keys off of metallic and the front door slam, followed by the car door, 'I'm on my way' he said softly 'Is everything okay?' he asked her

'No' she said softly 'It's not'

'I'll be there soon darling' he told her

'Drive carefully Joey please?'

'I promise' he said and he hung up.

Fifteen minutes later she heard the doorbell ring.

'I'll get it' Max said, Lauren heard him open the door and she heard Joey come in.

'Where is she?'

'She's in the lounge'

'What are you here?' he looked at Tanya and Max and saw that they had been crying too. He glanced at Lucy in the kitchen who was busy preparing dinner and then he walked into the lounge. Lauren looked up at him and he dropped to his knees in front of her and she moved into his arms.

'Darling what is it, you're scaring me' his voice was muffled by her hair. Lauren couldn't talk, all she could was cry.

'Max why don't we go meet the kids at school, take them for a soda or something, give Lauren and Joey some time alone?'

'No you can't leave me, you promised that you'd help figure out what to do' Lauren pulled away from Joey

'And we will darling' Tanya said 'but you need to tell Joey and school is over in half an hour 'We're just going to buy you some more time. Lucy can call us when you're ready for us to being the kids home' she told her

'Not Hope' Lauren said to her

'Lauren'

'I don't want her in the house' Lauren told her firmly

'We'll take them out for pizza' Max said 'Lucy's going to have trouble to get 4 steaks stretch to 8' he told her

'Okay' Lauren nodded.

Tanya and Max left and Lucy licked her lips 'I'm just going to pop to the shops, get a few more things' she told Lauren, 'There's fresh coffee in the pot Joey' she told him

Joey looked up at her and nodded and then looked at Lauren, he waited until the front door closed again and he looked at Lauren.

'What do you need to tell me?' he asked her

She took a deep breath 'I'm not going through the menopause'

'You went the doctors?'

She nodded 'Sophie brought it up when Lucy was here this morning, I told Lucy that I didn't need to go and then when I threw up she made an appointment'

'What did he say?' he asked her anxiously

'He sent me to the hospital for tests and the consultants told me told me that I had a brain tumour, a benign pituitary brain tumour' she told him

'Oh no Lauren!' he said as the tears started to fall down his cheeks 'SO what happens now? They can treat it right?' he asked her

'Normally yes they can. With surgery and radiotherapy, or some drugs that shrink it'

'Why do I sense a but here'

'Things are complicated' she told him softly 'I can't have surgery or radiotherapy and I can't take the drugs that shrink it' she told him 'Not yet anyway, in four months time I can'

'Why four months?' he asked her 'Why wait that long?

'Because that's when the baby is going to be born' she told him. Joey blinked at her stunned into silence. 'Joey say something?' she asked him as more tears rolled down her cheeks

'You're pregnant?' he asked her, she nodded her head

'Yes' she said softly 'Five months' she told him 'It was a bit of a shock for me too' she told him 'I've not had any symptoms, because the pituitary gland increases hormones..so they're all off kilter…I'm still having light periods….' She trailed off and she looked at hi

'You're pregnant' he said again and Lauren nodded again

'And because I'm pregnant I can't have any treatment. I mean I could but we'd risk the baby' she told him and she cried harder. 'I don't know what to do Joey, tell me what to do'

Joey wrapped her in his arms and he picked her up and he sat down on the sofa and he settled her on his lap.

'Ssh, it's okay, we'll figure it out' he whispered into her hair, his tears wetting the strands.

They cried together for the decisions that they had to make.

**AN: So Lauren is pregnant too! What happens now? Can she be treated? **

**And she called Joey and he is there with her. **

**What do you think that they are going to decide to do?**

**And Lauren still doesn't want Hope there –who can blame her really? **

**Thanks for your reviews**

**R&R as always **

**Back tomorrow. **


	19. Chapter 19

After a few minutes Lauren sniffed and she got up to get some tissues

'Do you feel okay?' he asked her 'The baby?'

She nodded 'The doctors did an ultrasound' she told him 'He said that she's healthy and developed to the stage she should be'

'She?' Joey looked at her 'We're having another girl?' he asked her and Lauren nodded as she sat down next to Joey.

'Yes' she nodded as she wiped her eyes.

Joey smiled 'Wow another daughter, another baby in the house'

'Yeah' Lauren nodded

'I thought….' Joey frowned 'I thought that what was we wanted?' he asked her softly

'It is' she said in between sobs. 'I just… I went to the doctors expecting to have the diagnosis of the menopause and instead I get sent up the hospital and get told that I'm pregnant and I have a brain tumour. It's kind of a lot to take in! My head is spinning. If I hadn't see the ultra sound for myself then I wouldn't have believed it, I mean I haven't had any symptoms. No morning sickness, no cravings, all my normal clothes fit, they're a little snug but I just assumed that I was putting on a little weight; I haven't even felt pregnant. I've been drinking, popping painkillers for my headache. I even ate sushi the other day' she told him

Joey looked at her 'Well what did the doctor say?'

'Doctors' she said 'I have two' she licked her lips 'and to be honest I didn't really take all that much in. Mum did though, she asked a lot of questions' she wiped her eyes again and she took a deep breath, 'We need to figure out what we are going to tell the kids' Lauren told him softly

'I know' he nodded and he looked down at his hands, 'we can send them upstairs to do their homework and then you, me, Max and Tanya can talk things through and come up with a plan as to what we ar going to tell the kids without worrying them' he said and he looked at her 'Do we need to be worried?' he asked her

She nodded her head 'I think so' she said quietly and started to cry again.

Joey put his arm around her 'Ssh' he whispered softly 'Don't cry, not until we know what all the options are' he told her 'Babe don't cry' Lauren sniffed as she heard a car door outside 'Oh god is that them already?'

'It's probably Lucy' Joey said as the doorbell rang 'I'll go' he told her and he got up and opened the door, he let Lucy in 'I'm going to take Lauren upstairs' he told her

'Okay' she nodded 'Do you want some coffee or anything?'

'No thanks' he shook his head

Joey went back into the lounge and he took Lauren's hand in his and he pulled her to her feet

'Where are we going?' she asked him

'Upstairs' he said softly. 'Come here' he said scooping her into her arms, carrying her up the stairs and into the bedroom and he kicked the door shut with his foot and he carried her to the bed, laying her down on it. He got on beside her and she moved into his arms. 'We'll figure things out okay?' he asked her 'Whatever happens we'll deal with it okay? I promise' he told her 'you and me together' he told her, he licked his lips 'did the doctors tell you how big the tumour is?'

'No' Lauren said 'they were going to give me a CT and MRI scan but when the blood tests came back to tell them that I was pregnant they couldn't do either' she shook her head 'The radiation could affect the baby' she explained

'What about the treatment?' he asked her

'I spaced out and I don't know what they said, mum got some information from them, I think she has it in her purse….I don't know' Lauren said with a frown

'The kids are going to have a lot of questions' Joey told her 'Questions that we don't have the answers to'

'I know'

'I think mum should be here' he told her

'Oh god I forgot about Sarah' Lauren said with a frown 'Of course she should be' she nodded 'You should phone her, ask her to come over'

'And what about Hope?' Joey asked her softly

'I can't deal with Hope right now' Lauren shook her head 'I said some terrible things to her…'

'I know she told me' Joey said softly 'And she also told me what she said to you'

Lauren looked at him in surprise 'She did?'

Joey nodded 'and James filled in the rest, she's really sorry Lauren, she cried all the way to mum's and I know that you are sorry too, she thinks that you wished that she hadn't been born'

'Sometimes I do' she replied and she sniffed 'She is such a handful Joey….I can't deal with her tantrums and her attitude' she told him 'Maybe it will be better if she stays at Sarah's'

'I am going take time off work and I will be here the whole time. She will not be a problem and I think she realises that I am not a pushover'

'You are when it comes to her' Lauren said softly

'I told her that she was grounded for two months and that after that two months was up she had to find a part time job after school and weekends' he told her 'She doesn't have a mobile phone, that's in the glove box of my car and I told her that it was about time that she started acting like a grown up'

'You did?'

'Mmhmm' Joey nodded 'She even made breakfast this morning'

'How many times did you have to ask her?'

'Twice, but she did it' he told her

'The other three got up early this morning, made their lunches, made breakfast and cleaned up, reorganised the chores and put a new chart on the fridge. The only chores I have to do is the shopping and the rubbish bins. They even organised a lift to and from school until I felt better' she told him 'I didn't have to ask them to do it. Sophie organised tonight's dinner, took some steaks out to cook and they even slept with last night, Sophie came in first and then James and Connor' she told her

'They did?' he asked her and she nodded

'It was so cute, they haven't done that since they were little, do you remember when the three of them were little and they came in to our bed because of the thunderstorm?'

'I remember' Joey nodded 'Connor was the most scared out of the three of them, James wanted to be where Connor was and Sophie and James were inseparable' he smiled 'Hope slept through most of it but woke up when one loud clap of thunder hit right over head and she dived into the bed and she clung to you like a limpet'

Lauren smiled 'She was so scared poor little thing, trying to be brave because she was the oldest, she was what.. 9 or 10?

'9 I think' Joey said and he looked at Lauren, brushed her tears away with his fingers, his hand lingering on her cheek before he lopped her hair around her ear with a smile 'Hope needs to be here Lauren, she needs to know' he told her softly 'Imagine how she's going to feel to find out that everyone else knows and she doesn't'

'She's not going to care Joey trust me' Lauren shook her head

'That's where you are wrong' he told her 'Look, I'll ask mum to bring her and if she even looks as though she is going to say anything nasty then I will kick her out myself' he told her

Lauren nodded and then sighed 'okay' she said

Joey nodded 'I'm going to see how Lucy's doing downstairs and call mum okay? I want you to wash your face and run a brush through your hair and I will come back up in a minute' he told her softly. He kissed her forehead softly and then got up and went downstairs.

He chatted to Lucy briefly and then called his mum and asked her to come over with Hope in about half an hour. He called Tanya and spoke to her and said for them to be back in half an hour too, Lucy had poured them both a coffee.

'Thanks Lucy' Joey smiled at her and he took the cups upstairs.

He could hear Lauren in the bathroom, he put the coffees on the bedside table and he walked into the bathroom. Lauren met his gaze in the mirror. 'All right?' he asked her 'Everyone will be here in half an hour' he said

'So what do we tell them?'

'Tanya's going to come upstairs with mum and Max, Lucy will keep the kids downstairs and we'll talk it through before we decide what we will tell them'

'Okay' she nodded

Lauren took a deep breath and she let it out slowly 'I'm scared Joey'

He nodded 'I know' he murmured softly 'I wish I was the one with the brain tumour not you'

'Don't' Lauren shook her head turning to look at him

'It's true. You've already been through so much, the miscarriages, Patrick..'

'You went through that too' she said quietly and she sniffed

Joey cupped her face in his hands and he brushed new tears away with this thumbs. 'This time we are going to have a healthy baby girl' he told her 'and you are going to be fine' he told her firmly 'Do you hear me Lauren Branning?'

She nodded 'I love you' she whispered softly

'I know. God I love you too' he said and he drew her into a soft kiss.

**AN: So Joey has talked Lauren into Hope coming home …even if it is just to hear the news that they have to share and Sarah will be there too. **

**Lucy's being very supportive. **

**And they are having another baby girl. **

**Thanks for all your review**

**R&R as always **

**Back tomorrow**


	20. Chapter 20

They both heard the cars arrive at the front of the house and they exchanged glances.

'I guess this is it hey?' Joey asked her, she nodded and she looked around the room, she hadn't made the bed this morning. She rushed over and pulled the duvet straight and then the pillows. 'Relax' he told her softly 'I am sure no one is going to be concerned about the state of out bedroom'

'I don't want anyone to think that I'm a slob' she told him

'As if anyone is going to think that' he rolled his eyes

They heard the sound of people coming up the stairs and Joey opened the bedroom door, one by one their parents appeared in the doorway.

'How are the kids?' Lauren asked them

'Worried' Tanya said 'Surprised to see me and Max waiting for them' she told them 'We tried to keep things light but I think they know that something is going on' she said

Lauren nodded 'We don't know what to tell them. I couldn't remember what the options were' she looked at her mother

Sarah frowned 'I need a little back story here' she said and she looked at Lauren 'Has this got something to do with you not being well?'

'Yeah it is' Lauren nodded 'Lucy made me go to the doctors and they sent me to the hospital and it turns out that it wasn't the menopause like I thought it was'

'I told Joey you were too young' Sarah said and she looked at Joey and saw his red rimmed eyes 'So is it bad news? Should I be sitting?' she looked at Tanya and Max. Joey linked his fingers through Lauren's.

'It's not entirely bad news' Joey said and he looked at Lauren 'Right?'

'No' she shook her head glancing up at him and she swallowed. 'The doctors ran some tests and they told me that I 'm pregnant' she told them, she saw Sarah and Max's gaze drop to her stomach 'Five months apparently and I didn't have a clue' she told them and she licked her lips 'It's a girl' She saw Max's eyes light up at the prospect of another grand-daughter, much like Joey's had. 'The rest of it I didn't really hear, so mum?' she looked at her mother, Lauren and Joey sat down on the bed and she looked down at Joey's hand on her lap.

'Lauren hasn't been feeling well for a while, she thought she was going through the menopause, she had a lot of the symptoms, but the doctors took blood and urine samples and discovered that she had a higher than normal hormone level' Tanya said 'Higher than normal during pregnancy' she licked her lips and she paused 'The doctors suspect that Lauren has a tumour on her pituitary gland, they also suspect that it's benign'

'A brain tumour?' Sarah said 'Oh my god Lauren honey' she said clasping her hand over her mouth her eyes filled with tears as did Max's. He moved to sit beside Lauren and he put his arm around her and he kissed her head, she leant against his shoulder as her own eyes filled with tears again.

'They would usual run a CT scan and a MRI to see how big the tumour is, but with Lauren being pregnant they can't risk the baby. The next step would be surgery to remove the tumour and maybe part of the pituitary gland, but again, they can't do the surgery because of the risk to the baby, and after surgery Lauren would then have to go through 5 radiotherapy sessions a week for 6 weeks, which again they can't do because she is pregnant. There are other drugs that they can give Lauren to hopefully try to shrink the tumour but they don't come without risks to the baby'

'What are the risks?' Max asked her

'There's a risk of the baby being still born, miscarriage and birth defects' Tanya said, Joey closed his eyes as he heard and he squeezed Lauren's hand tightly 'so the doctors think that the best option is to monitor Lauren's hormone levels, and treat the imbalances with other medications until the baby is born and then Lauren can have the CT and MRI to see how big the tumour is and what their next steps will be'

'So the tumour will keep growing?' Max asked her

'Yes' Tanya said 'the doctors don't know how fast or slow it's growing or how big or small that it is' Tanya said. 'Lauren also has the risk that she won't be able to carry this baby to term, that her hormones will make her body believe that it's time to go into labour, she could go into labour tomorrow or in a month, two months, or she could carry to term, or her body won't bring on labour, in which case Lauren will have to be induced or have an emergency c-section' she said 'And she could end up having a c-section as early as 7 months' Tanya said and she took a breath 'There are also a few other things that may happen, depending on the growth rate of the tumour, Lauren could develop more symptoms, she could have trouble with her vision if the tumour presses on her optic nerve, it could also press against the carotid arteries which means that Lauren could have a stroke, or it could press on other parts of her brain which could affect other functions, these are obviously worse case scenarios' Tanya said to them all. She looked at Joey and saw that he had paled considerably. 'Lauren has another hospital appointment in two days and then she will need to have weekly doctor's appointments to check her hormone levels.'

'So we do nothing?' Max asked her 'We just wait and hope for the best?' he frowned

'Lauren could have a termination, which is possible at 20 weeks, it's the latest that you can have a termination, it's what the doctors want to talk about at the hospital, then Lauren could have surgery'

'Ultimately it's Lauren and Joey's decision to make' Tanya said 'All we can do is offer advice and support'

'Of course' Sarah said looking at Joey and Lauren who were both openly crying again.

'And we need to know what we are going to tell those children down stairs' Max said 'Lauren what do you want to tell them?' Max asked her

'We don't want to scare them' Joey said 'They don't need to know half the stuff that we just heard' he said 'We tell them that Lauren's pregnant, that she's a high risk pregnancy and therefore needs to have weekly visits to the doctor' he looked at Lauren and she raised her eyes to his and nodded.

'What about the tumour?' Sarah asked

'We play it down' Lauren told them 'Don't tell them how serious it is'

'I agree' Joey said 'I'm going to hand over the running of the clubs to Jamie and be at home with Lauren, I've spoken to Lucy about overseeing the gallery and the graphic design, all we need is Lauren's agreement' he glanced at her briefly 'I'll be here 24/7.

'We can help out too' Max said 'How about we take the kids at weekends?' he looked at Sarah and Tanya

'Yes we can do that' Sarah nodded, Tanya nodded too in agreement.

'So it's agreed then?' Max asked 'Are you up to telling the kids Joey?'

'Yes' Joey nodded although he was already dreading it.

'Okay well, we will give you two a couple of minutes' Tanya told them both

Lauren stood up 'Thanks mum' she said and she hugged her tightly.

'You're welcome she whispered softly. Sarah hugged Lauren next and then Max, Joey didn't miss out of the hugs either. Max held onto him a little bit longer, whispering in his ear.

'You need me call okay son?' he asked him

Joey nodded 'Thanks dad' he replied.

Their parents went downstairs and Lauren and Joey looked at each other.

'Are you sure that you are okay with telling the kids?' she asked him

'Of course' he nodded 'I can do it' he told her and he cupped her face in his hands 'Are you ready baby?' she took a deep breath, closing her eyes and then she let it out slowly and took a deep breath

'Yes' she said 'Are you?'

'Yes' he lied.

**AN: So Joey is going to tell the kids, and play things down. How will they react? **

**Read on to find out**

**Thanks for all your reviews R&R as always. **


	21. Chapter 21

Joey and Lauren walked down the stairs hand in hand and then paused before they went into the room.

'Okay?' he asked softly, Lauren nodded and they walked through the door and into the kitchen. Max had seated the kids at the table and Lucy looked up.

'Do you want us to stay?' Max asked them

Lauren and Joey looked at each other and Joey shook his head 'No, but thank you' Joey told him

'All right we'll wait outside then' he said, Lauren watched them go as they filed out of the front door, giving a small smile when Max turned and winked at her.

Lauren looked at her children's faces and she saw the concern and fear on three faces, she couldn't bring herself to look at Hope's face to see what was on her face.

'What's going on?' James asked

'Are you and mum getting divorced?' Connor asked Joey

'No' Joey shook his head 'We're not' he licked his lips and he took a deep breath 'Look, we have something that we need to tell you all' he told them all 'our parent's already know, you all know that your mum hasn't been feeling well lately, well she went to the doctors today, well we realise that you are probably going to be highly embarrassed about this, but we are having another baby' he told them all.

'What!' Hope frowned 'Is that all? You've dragged us all here and got us all worried because you're having another baby? At your age too, that's disgusting' she snapped at them and she got up

'SIT. DOWN!' Joey snapped at her 'Don't you dare talk to your mother or me like that young lady!' he said angrily, Hope blinked at Joey's anger and she sat down, her cheeks flushing.

Lauren looked down and she felt her eyes fill with tears 'I'm sorry Joey' she said quietly and she raced out of the back door of the house into the garden.

Joey watched her go, concern evident in his eyes, he licked his lips and he turned back to look at his children 'Your mother is 5 months pregnant, she is classed as a high risk pregnancy because of her previous miscarriages, and because of Patrick's heart condition' he continued. 'She had to go to the hospital, to have some tests, and they discovered the she has a brain tumour' he told them

Sophie burst into tears and Connor and James both went pale, Joey looked at Hope and saw that she had her hand clasped over her mouth and her eyes were shimmering with tears.

'How….how bad is it?' Sophie stammered

'They think that the tumour is benign..'

'What does that mean?' Connor asked with a shaky voice

'It mean non-cancerous' Joey explained to him

'Why do just think?' James questioned

'Because of where the tumour is' Joey said 'It's in the pituitary gland in the brain, most of these tumours are benign, the gland controls hormones, and when it has a tumour it can affect people in different ways. In your mums case she had symptoms of the menopause, when in fact she is pregnant'

'Mum didn't know she's pregnant?' Sophie asked him

'No, she's had no symptoms of pregnancy. No morning sickness, no cravings, nothing' Joey shook his head

'Is she going to be okay?' she asked

'She's going to be just fine' Joey nodded and he forced himself to smile. 'We don't want you guys to worry about anything okay. I am going be here to look after her and you guys need to help out around the house. Mum told me that you've redone the chore chart so thank you for doing that. The next four months, mum is going to need to have a lot of rest and have as little stress and worry as possible' he looked pointedly at Hope. He licked his lips. 'So does anyone have any questions?'

'Is the baby a boy or a girl?' James asked

'A girl' Joey smiled proudly

'A little sister?' Sophie asked wiping her eyes.

'Yep' Joey nodded.

'Are you moving back in dad?' Connor asked him

'Yes' Lauren replied as she came back into the room. 'I need my family around me' she said 'I'm going to need a lot of support and hugs' she told them all as she walked over to Joey 'And TLC'

Joey put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head, the kids all got up and crowded around her,

'How do you feel mum?' Sophie asked her

'Tired, emotional, shocked' she replied

'Can I do anything?' she asked her

'I could use a hug' Lauren said. Sophie grinned at her and hugged her tightly, James and Connor came forward and joined in the hug, hugging Joey too. 'Okay now I need air!' Lauren said with a small giggle, they all let her go and she blew out a breath. Hope still sat in her place at the table in the kitchen.

Joey looked at her 'Hope?' he said she looked up at him

'What?' she asked him with a shrug

'Haven't you got anything to say?' he asked her

Hope looked at Lauren and then at Joey and then back at Lauren.

'Why don't we go see what the oldies are doing' James said to his siblings. They left, leaving the three of them together.

'I'll leave you two alone to talk' Joey said 'I'll be outside' he looked at Lauren and he stroked her cheek softly 'Hope. I'm warning you!' he told her firmly. She swallowed and nodded.

Lauren walked towards Hope and Hope stood up. 'Are you really going to be okay?' she asked Lauren, Lauren licked her lips, taking a deep breath and she shrugged.

'We don't know Hope. I hope so' she said softly deciding to be honest with her eldest daughter. 'I'm sorry about what I said to you. When I get angry, really angry, my brain doesn't engage with my mouth'

'So that's where I get it from?' Hope asked her

'Yeah afraid so' Lauren nodded 'Look when I had the accident, they asked Joey to make a decision of which one of us that he wanted them to try to save. At first he told them that he couldn't choose, that it was an impossible decision' Lauren told her 'Then when he had time to think about it'

'He chose you'

'He did, but not because he didn't want you, because we didn't want you, we did. We do' Lauren said 'You have no idea how hard we tried to conceive you…'Lauren laughed shaking her head 'I nearly died Hope, the doctors said that it was a miracle that I was still alive, that was down to you, you being inside me, you pressed against the bleeding and you kept me alive. Joey was asked to choose again and he chose me, because he had lived without me before and he didn't want to do it again. He didn't want to live without me. He was heartbroken that he had to choose, guilty that he had to choose. But he had never had you so he figured that he wouldn't miss what he never had….I'm not explaining this very well…does any of that make sense?'

Hope nodded and she sniffed 'Yes' she said softly 'it does' she said and she looked at Lauren 'I'm sorry too, I have been such a cow to you'

'Yeah you have' Lauren nodded 'But I didn't stop loving you, or wanting you and I never once wished that I lost you…. Never….' Lauren said as her eyes filled with tears 'I love you so much Hope….'

'I love you too mummy' Hope said and she grabbed Lauren and hugged her tightly. The two sobbed in each other's arms. 'Was dad telling the truth? Are you going to be okay?' she asked her

'Of course I am' Lauren said 'We Branning women are made of strong stuff'

'Good' she said with a sniff. 'Can I come home?'

'Yes of course you can honey' Lauren said 'I need you here most of all' she pulled Hope to look at her. 'This will always be your home okay?' Hope nodded 'Why don't you go and tell everyone that they come back in now?' she asked her

Hope nodded 'Okay' she said and she hugged Lauren again and then went to the door and opened it.

'You can come back in now' she told them

Joey made a beeline for Lauren 'Everything okay?' he asked her as he walked her into the living room

'Yes. Hope's coming home too' she told him

'I'll take Hope and we'll go and pick up our bags. Will you be okay for half an hour?'

'Yes' she nodded 'I'll be fine with a house full of people'

'We'll go now then' Joey told her and he gave her a quick kiss. 'I'll see you soon babe'

Lauren watched Joey speak to Hope and the two of them glanced at her with a smile and walked out of the house.

**AN: Joey told the kids. **

**Lauren and Hope made up and Lauren promised to tell Hope the truth about her condition after Hope promised that she would keep it secret from her brothers and sister. **

**Thanks for all your reviews **

**As always please R&R **


	22. Chapter 22

Lauren sat down on the sofa as Joey saw their parents and Lucy out. She closed her eyes and leant her head back against the sofa.

'Hey are you tired babe?' he asked her as he came into the lounge

'Yeah' she nodded

'Why don't we go to bed?' he held his hand out to her and she smiled with a nod of her head and took his hand, he pulled her up and he led her towards the stairs turning off the lights as she went. He went up the stairs first and Lauren held onto the bottom of his t-shirt as she followed him. Joey let her use the bathroom first as his things were still in the bags that he brought back earlier. She only took twenty minutes, she came out of the bathroom wearing one of his t-shirts and she walked over to the bed and she got in.

Fifteen minutes later, when Joey returned to the bedroom Lauren was already asleep. He climbed in to the bed and he stared up at the ceiling, the events of the day running through his head.

Lauren woke up at 3:00am and she got up she went downstairs. She made a coffee and took it into the lounge and she put the cup down on the coffee table, flicking on the lamp and she pulled out the photograph albums she sat on the sofa and she started to look through them.

'Lauren?' she looked up when she heard Joey call her name

'Hey'

'What are you doing up?' he asked her

'I woke up and I was thirsty' she told him softly 'and then I was started looking through the photograph albums' she said as she closed the one that she was looking at put it on the coffee table

'Yeah?' he asked her 'do you want some more coffee?'

'Please' she nodded

Joey made them both another coffee and came back into the lounge. 'It's a little cold in here babe' he said and he walked to the fireplace and he out some logs on it and he lit it, before he sat down next to her, He pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa and he wrapped it around both of them.

'Is it really over?' she asked him 'Between you and her?'

'Yes' he nodded 'and nothing happened between me and her, nothing physical. I promise' he told her and she licked her lips with a frown 'you don't have to worry about her'

'Are you sure?' Lauren looked at him 'I mean if you wanted to be with her…'

'She paid me attention and I found her attractive and I was flattered' he told her

'Was it because I wasn't paying you attention?' she asked him

Joey shook his head 'No it wasn't anything that you did or didn't do' he told her 'the way I felt for you never changed'

'But if you were willing to risk our marriage to be with her, they must have done' she said 'I know we haven't had sex in a while and I've been moody and tired…'

'It wasn't about that' Joey said 'I didn't go looking for someone else' he told her softly 'It was….it was nice to spend some time with someone else, different than being with you'

'Better than being with me?' Lauren asked him

Joey shook his head 'No not better' his fingers grazed her cheeks lightly 'It's hard to explain…I know what I did was wrong, I made a mistake in hiding my friendship with her from you' he told her 'I should have arranged for you to meet her and maybe we all could have been friends' he said licking his lips 'I think you would have liked her'

'Now we'll never know' Lauren said 'Is she going to cause us problems?' she asked him

'I don't think so' Joey said shaking his head 'At least I hope not' he told her

Lauren sighed 'Are you happy with me? Because I don't want you to stay with me just because I have a brain tumour' she told him 'and I could lose this baby too' Lauren licked her lips 'Things could get worse than they have been' she said 'I have my parents and your mum and Lucy and the kids, you don't have to stay because you feel like you some sort of obligation to me'

'I do have an obligation to you' he told her 'A legal one remember?' he asked her 'You have given me 4 beautiful children and we have another one on the way and nothing is going to happen to this one, She is going to be beautiful and healthy'

'We don't know that Joey' Lauren shook her head

'I do. I feel it' he said softly 'She's a fighter and she's special, like her mum, like Hope. And I love you. This is where I want to be. I had a momentary blip that's all. I know I have a lot to make up for Lauren and I swear that I will. I made a huge mistake and I hurt you. I couldn't see that I was doing anything wrong until mum made me question whether or not I would be happy if it was you who was seeing someone else that I didn't know about' he told her 'And thinking about it I knew that I wouldn't be happy, and that I would have gotten just as mad as you did with me, maybe even more so' he said and he reached out and he picked up her left hand, he frowned

'Where are your rings?' he asked her

'I took them off when I went out with Lucy' Lauren told him 'They're in my handbag' she licked her lips 'A guy asked me out on a date' she said 'He's 27 and has a 3 year old son called Adam, recently divorced…we were supposed to have dinner Wednesday night'

'Oh' Joey said quietly 'Are you still planning too?' he asked her

'Don't you think things are complicated enough?' Lauren asked him 'I'll text him tomorrow and tell him that I can't make it' she said

'Is that all that you are going to tell him?'

'Maybe I want to keep my options open' Lauren replied

'Okay I deserved that' Joey said with a nod of his head

'I am really sorry Lauren you do know that right?' he asked her and she looked at him

'I know' she nodded 'but if you ever cheat on my Joey then its over' you don't get any more chances. I am not going to become my mother always taking you back because I love you, no amount of begging is going to make me change my mind either'

'I know that' Joey nodded

'Do you?' Lauren looked at him 'I'm being serious here Joey. One time is all it's going to take and I'll divorce you and we'll be over'

'I understand' he said 'It's never going to happen I promise you'

Lauren sighed and she nodded 'Good. Because I love you so much Joey' she whispered

'I love you too babe' he murmured softly and he raised her hand to his lips and he kissed it softly. 'Maybe when all this is over we could go to Brighton, get away?' he asked her

Hope had come downstairs to get something to drink, she paused in the doorway hearing her parent's talking.

'Maybe, but it's going to be a while before all this is over' she told him with a sigh 'and it's not going to be easy'

'We can handle it' he told her 'As long as we are together'

'I hope so' Lauren said softly.

Joey frowned 'You don't think that we will?' he asked her

'I don't know Joey, I just …I don't know' she told him softly 'Right now I'm not certain of anything. Well there is one thing that I'm certain of'

'What's that?' he asked her

She sniffed as tears filled her eyes 'I'm really scared Joey' she told him 'I'm really really scared, I don't want to leave you or the kids'

'Baby you won't… come here' he pulled her into his arms and he held her tightly. 'I am not going to let anything happen to you do you hear me?' he asked her 'We are going to grow old together. We are going to live to a ripe old age, we will be surrounded with our children, their children and their children's children' he told her 'we are going to die together wrapped in each other's arms' he told her firmly 'Remember we both promised that to each other'

'I remember' she told him softly

'You are the love of my life Lauren, my soul mate, my best friend, my lover, the mother of my children'

'And your cousin' Lauren said 'You missed that out'

Joey chuckled softly 'and my cousin' he told her 'and we proved Derek wrong too didn't we hey? We didn't have any two headed children'

Lauren giggled softly 'That's true' she nodded

'Come here' Joey pulled her back to look at him, he cupped her face in his hand and he moved forward and he kissed her gently. 'We should go back to bed' he told her

'Can we sleep down here?' she asked him 'make a bed in front of the fire?'

'We can do that' he said 'I'll go get the pillow and duvet' he kissed her again and headed for the stairs. He thought he heard Hope's bedroom door shut, but his thoughts were on his wife downstairs.

**AN: Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Work has been … horrendous and busy and at times overwhelming and I haven't been sleeping well and not really been in the mood to write. **

**I am hoping to get back on track with updates this week….. **

**Thank you for all your reviews**

**R&R as always **


	23. Chapter 23

Hope was the first one up in the house. She pulled on her robe and she walked downstairs and she smiled when she saw her parents wrapped in each other's arms on the floor by the fire. She went into the kitchen and she made her brothers and sisters lunch and then she got the breakfast dishes ready, she put on some coffee for her parents and made some pancake mix for breakfast for her and her parents.

She heard Lauren wake up and she climbed up out of the makeshift bed from the floor and pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa, wrapping it around herself and she walked into the kitchen, she was surprised that Hope was already up.

'Morning mum how do you feel?' she asked her as she stopped what she was doing to look at her

'A little better' Lauren nodded, which was true she did feel better 'Dad and I talked last night and we cleared a few things up'

'That's good. Do you want some coffee?'

'Please' Lauren nodded as she slid onto a stool, Hope made her a coffee and passed it to her.

'I heard you and dad talking last night' she said to her 'I wasn't eavesdropping or anything I was thirsty and I came down to get some milk and I heard you and dad….'

'What did you hear?' Lauren asked her as Hope poured herself a coffee and sat down next to Lauren

'I heard you tell dad that you were scared, that you didn't want to leave him or us' Hope said and she licked her lips 'The tumour…it's worse than you told us isn't it?' she asked her 'Please mum I want to know, I promise that I won't tell the others' she told her 'I want to help support you and dad' Lauren looked at her and she sighed and she nodded her head

'The truth is that we don't know' Lauren told her softly 'I can't have the normal scans and tests because it's too dangerous for the baby. We don't know how big it is or how fast it's growing or even how slowly. There's a lot of things that we don't know' she told her eldest daughter. 'Your father and I have a lot of decisions to make'

'What kind of decisions' Hope asked her

'Normally, I would have the scans and they would do surgery to remove the tumour or I could have some medication to help with the symptoms. But I can't have surgery whilst I'm pregnant and the medication could be harmful to the baby, it could cause me to miscarry or the baby to be still born or not develop properly and she could be disabled or brain damaged' Lauren explained to her

'So all the while that you are pregnant this thing is just growing inside of you?'

'Yes' Lauren nodded 'and it means that my symptoms could get worse or I could develop new ones'

'What kind of new ones?'

'To be honest I wasn't really listening when the doctors told me, I was kinds of reeling from the news that I was 5 months pregnant with a brain tumour' Lauren shrugged casually 'It was kind of a lot to take in' she said 'Dad and I are going back to the hospital to talk through the options and then we will make out decisions and go from there'

Hope nodded 'So this tumour it makes you think what?'

'It's on my pituitary gland which is someone at the base of my brain at the back, it controls hormone levels'

'So is that why you didn't know that you are pregnant?' she asked her

'Yes, I haven't had any symptoms, no morning sickness, no cravings. I'm still having periods, although they are light. I thought I was going through the menopause' she told her daughter 'in some respects I wish that I was' she told her softly

Hope reached over and she took her mums hand in hers 'If you need to talk to me…..I know I'm only 17 but I can listen'

'I know you can… there is something that you can do for me though?'

'What's that?'

'Talk to Sophie'

'Sophie why?'

'She took your advice about sex' Lauren told her, Hope's face paled 'She thought she was pregnant. She thought that she would be cool to be grown up like you' she told her 'The others look up to you Hope, they watch the way that you act, the way that you talk, dress and they want to be like you' Lauren told her 'They will come to you for advice and to talk and you need to tell them the truth not spin a mouthful of lies about how much sex you're having and how great it is' she said 'And then they think well if Hope's doing it I'll do it too'

'I'm sorry' Hope said 'She kept asking me about sex and wouldn't shut up about it, I think dickhead was pressuring her' she told her 'I told her to talk to you about it but she wouldn't' she told her

'Are you having sex Hope? Please tell me if you are having a lot of sex and loving it that you are at least being careful. The last think you want to be at your age is pregnant. Trust me on this one'

Hope blushed bright red. 'I'm not having sex' she told her mother, both of them were unaware that Joey was awake.

'Good' Lauren said to her 'There's no rush to have sex Hope, Sex complicates things especially when you are not ready for it' she told her 'And it's not a bad a thing not to have had sex at 17, I wish that I would have waited before I had sex'

'Was dad your first?'

'No' Lauren shook her head 'He wasn't even my seventh or eighth' she said 'Or my fourteenth or fifteenth'

'How many people did you have sex with before dad?'

'A lot' Lauren told her softly 'More than I care to remember and not all of those were the most pleasant of times. But when you find the right person, sex with them is amazing' Lauren told her 'So it's okay to wait' Lauren told her softly 'There's no rush'

Hope nodded 'There's no one that I want to have sex with anyway' she told her truthfully 'maybe when I'm older ….how do you know when you found the right person?'

'You just do' Lauren said 'It's hard to explain but you'll just know'

'Did you know with dad?'

'Yes' Lauren nodded and she smiled 'and I fancied him like crazy' she told her daughter 'He was "off limits" so that just made me want him more'

'What do you mean?'

'He was dating my best friend Lucy' Lauren said 'And there were other reasons that we couldn't…shouldn't be together. It was complicated'

'Complicated, because you're cousins?' Hope asked her

Lauren narrowed her eyes at her daughter 'Just exactly how much did you hear when you weren't purposefully eavesdropping?' Lauren asked her, Hope blushed again

'Are you and daddy cousins?'

'Yes' Lauren nodded 'his father was my dad's brother' she explained to her

'So … did you parents try to stop you being together?' Hope asked her

Lauren licked her lips 'At first some of them did' Lauren nodded 'And we fought our feelings for a while until we couldn't do it anymore' she said and she smiled as she remembered 'I'd already fallen in love with him and all he'd done was kiss me twice'

'I seem to recall that I only kissed you once' Joey piped up from the lounge 'and you kissed me first'

'What is it with this family and eavesdropping on private conversations?' Lauren teased as Joey got up

'You kissed daddy first?'

'Yeah I did' Lauren nodded 'but only because I was drunk'

'Thanks' Joey said as he poured himself a coffee

'I meant my courage was borrowed'

'And what did you do?' Hope asked Joey

'Oh he took off' Lauren said 'me kissing him made him leave Walford'

'And then dad came back and kissed you and then what happened?' Hope asked

'He took off again' Lauren said to her 'once again leaving Walford' Lauren replied 'and then when he came back after his father died, we had a reunion at Christmas and he said that he was sorry and wanted to be with me, and then he took off again' she said to Hope

'Your mother is being a drama queen' Joey said as he sat on the stool the other side of Lauren

'Your father is being a dick' Lauren told Hope. Hope looked at them both and she smiled.

'I came to Walford a few days …maybe a week or two after I spent some time with mum and Lauren and I eventually got together'

'Eventually?'

'I made him work' Lauren grinned 'But we did eventually get together'

'What happened with everyone?' Hope asked them

'I think that's enough of the prying into your parent's early relationship' Lauren told her with a smile

'But you will tell me .. I want to know'

'There was a lot of sex' Joey said causing Hope to blush

'Eeeew!' Hope grimaced 'I don't need to hear that part' she scolded them both

'We have actually had sex more than four times' Joey continued to tease his daughter 'we're probably in treble figures if not four figures' he looked at Lauren for confirmation.

'Yeah I haven't been keeping score babe' Lauren said softly shaking her head 'you're embarrassing your first born'

Joey grinned 'I know' he laughed

'Do you still fancy dad?' Hope asked Lauren

Lauren turns to look at Joey and she smiled at him 'Yeah I do' she nodded, Joey smiled at her

'And I fancy your mother like crazy' Joey replied and he moved forward and he kissed Lauren softly

'Please do you mind I haven't eaten my breakfast yet' Hope scolded them teasingly

'You started it!' Lauren said, they heard the other kids moving around upstairs.

'Not a word to the others Hope' Lauren reminded her

'Promise' Hope said

'You can take my car, I'm not going to be needing it for a while'

'But what about my punishments?' Hope asked her

'You're still grounded' Joey said 'You can have your phone back though'

'Thanks, I'm going to be better, and I will talk to Sophie' she looked at Lauren

'Thank you' Lauren said with a smile

'Right pancakes for breakfast' she told them both

'Yummy' Joey and Lauren said together

Hope giggled as she went to the stove.

**AN: Lauren and Hope had a mother and daughter talk and she told Hope the truth about her condition, or as much as she knows anyway. **

**Thanks for all your reviews**

**R&R as always **


	24. Chapter 24

Hope watched as her parents came back from the hospital, she could already tell that Lauren was upset. Joey reached for hand but she shrugged him off and went up the stairs

'What happened?' Hope asked her father

'Not now Hope' he frowned and he put the car keys down and he looked towards the door that Lauren had fled through. 'Max and Tanya will be here in a few minutes, can you get everyone to pack a bag for a few days, you're all going to stay with Tanya for a few days. Your mother and I need to talk' he told her

'Okay' she nodded her head 'I'll tell everyone'

'Thanks' Joey said and he came up the stairs.

He found Lauren sitting on the bed and she looked up when he came in.

'Do you want to yell at me?' he asked her as he sat beside her 'Babe I wasn't saying that I didn't want to have another baby with you, that I don't want this baby' he told her softly 'you know that I do' he said 'but you also know if I have to choose between losing you and keeping the baby that I am going to choose you' he said 'I made that decision nearly eighteen years ago Lauren do you really think that I would change my mind now after 16 years of marriage?'

'No but'

'But what?' he asked her

'This could be my last chance to have another baby Joey' she told him

'That's rubbish and you know it' he frowned at her 'I told you that we can adopt'

'We don't need to adopt I'm pregnant now' she snapped at him 'In four months time….'

'In four months time you could be dead Lauren and then I won't have you or the baby' he snarled angrily at her

'That was the worst case scenario Joey' Lauren replied quietly 'It's all "if's and but's" you heard what the doctors said…'

'Yes I heard what the doctors said but did you? Were you actually listening because it doesn't sound to me as though you were' he frowned at her as he started to pace the floor

'Of course I was listening' she glared at him 'This is happening to me not you!'

Joey spun round to stare at her in disbelief 'This is happening to me?' he repeated 'Seriously?' he asked her 'You think that this isn't happening to me? I've just sat in a room in the hospital listening to some doctors tell me again that the woman I love may die and you have the audacity to tell me that this isn't happening to me?' Joey shook his head 'You're unbelievable Lauren' he said to her. He frowned and he walked towards the door.

'That's it Joey walk away' Lauren snapped at him angrily 'Are you going to run back to Hannah?'

Joey turned to look at her 'Are you going to throw that back in my face every time we argue?'

They heard a tentative tap on the door and Joey opened it and he saw Hope standing there

'What is it?' he asked her

'We're ready to go' Hope said 'Nana and gramps are here'

'All right we'll be down in a minute' Joey told her

'Is everything okay?' she asked looking at her mother. Lauren got up and she walked to the door

'We'll come down now' she told her

She heard Joey sigh angrily behind her and he followed them down the stairs.

They said goodbye to the kids, each of them giving their mother long hugs, as though they were never going to see her again.

'Hey come on buddy' she said to James 'Dad just need to talk and yell and stuff, we don't want you guys to hear that's all' she told him

'Are you and dad going to break up?' he asked her

'No of course we're not' Joey said quickly 'we have a lot to work out and we can't do it if we need to worry about you guys too' he told his son 'Mum and I are going to be fine'

The kids left and Joey shut the front door he sighed and he turned to lean up against it. He looked at Lauren and she licked her lips and she walked into the lounge to stand in front of the fire that was burning in the hearth. Joey sighed and he pushed away from the door and he walked through to stand in front of her.

'Joey I want this baby, please don't make me get rid of it' she told him

'I want the baby Lauren, I don't want to get to rid of it either, but we need to weigh up all the options and then make an informed decision' he told her

'In four months time I'll have had the baby and then I'll have the surgery' she told him 'Please Joey, it's just four months'

'It's not just four months Lauren' Joey growled in frustration 'It's four more months that you go without any treatment that the tumour grows bigger, you could go blind if it presses on your optic nerve, it could press on your arteries and cause you to have a stroke or a heart attack. Any of these could happen at any time in the next four months, I could lose you and the baby' he told her with a frown 'and the doctors don't even know if it's cancerous. They are just assuming that it isn't'

'Most cases it isn't' she tried to reason with him

'And what if you are not most cases Lauren hey? Have you thought about that? Have you actually thought about that?' he snapped at her 'Have you thought about what that would do to your parents. Too Abi and Oscar, to the kids, to me? Have you actually thought about that or are you too wrapped up in the idea of having another baby?' he asked her 'A baby that you might not actually get to see? That you might never see grow up, that you'll never take to school on her first day? That you might never see her get married have children of her own?'

'Don't' Lauren shook her head as tears stung the back of her eyes

'And what about the kids that you have now?' he asked her 'Hope's 18th birthday is 6 weeks away'

'I know when her birthday is' she snapped at him 'you are just seeing the worst possibilities here and that's not fair' she shook her head 'It's my body and you can't make me do anything that I don't want to do. I am keeping this baby Joey and there's nothing that you or anyone else can say to me that is going to make me change your mind' she snapped at him as hot angry tears rolled down her cheeks.

'So that's it? You are not even going to talk about it?' he shouted at her 'I always knew that you were selfish Lauren but never this selfish' he frowned and he grabbed his car keys and he opened the front door

'Where are you going?' Lauren asked him

'Out!' he snapped 'There's nothing to talk about here' he slammed the door behind him

'Joey!' Lauren yelled after him 'Joey!' she broke down in tears and sank down to the floor in front of the fire.

**AN: So Joey and Lauren have got full facts at the hospital and Joey's reaction is of the worst case scenario because he almost lost Lauren in the past. **

**Lauren's is that she's going to be okay.**

**So what happens now? **

**They've had a row and Joey had walked out leaving a distraught Lauren in tears. **

**Is he going to Hannah?**

**Will this be the end of Joey and Lauren if he does? **

**Read on to find out **

**Thanks for all your reviews I enjoy reading them **

**R&R as always **


	25. Chapter 25

Joey leant up against the car, anger and frustration with his wife rolling over him in waves. If anything over the years they had been together she had gotten even more stubborn and pig headed and once her mind was made up about something he knew that there would be no changing it. But that didn't mean that he wasn't going to try his hardest.

He unlocked the car and he got in and started the engine as it started to rain. He hated that she was so stubborn. That she was so pig headed, that she wouldn't listen to reason. That she wouldn't even consider his feelings in this whole situation.

He started the engine and then hit the steering wheel, what he really wanted to do was shake her until she saw sense, saw things from her perspective, until she realised how terrified he was of the prospect of spending the rest of his life without her.

He rested his forehead against the steering wheel, closing his eyes, he was a coward. His wife was crying her eyes out in the living room and he was just planning on driving away, to where he had no clue; only that he wanted there to a lot of alcohol involved. He raised his head and he reversed the car off the drive, he looked towards the house and a pang of guilt gripped him, Lauren needed him. He knew that he needed to go back inside and step up but he was furious with her and he couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't end up having another row. She didn't need that, she didn't deserve that. He sighed and he saw the front door open, Lauren stood there looking at him. She stepped out into the rain. Joey frowned and drive back up the drive and he turned off the engine, but made no move to get out of the car. She crossed the drive and she opened the car door and she crouched down.

'Joey' she whispered softly 'Please don't leave'

'If I don't we're only going to end up fighting and I don't want to fight Lauren' he told her

'I know me either' she said putting her hand onto his thigh

He sighed and he took her hand in his 'I don't know what to do, what to say' he said to her 'Lauren you don't understand how terrified I am… I've been through this once before when you had the car accident. You don't understand how I feel in all of this. How the kids will feel'

'The kids will still have you'

'And what about me? Who will I have?' he asked her 'and don't you dare say the kids, because you know that's not what I mean'

Lauren licked her lips 'Please come inside' she asked him

'I just want to go out and get drunk'

'And what will that solve?' she asked him 'what's ever been solved by going out and getting drunk?'

'Hangovers' Joey replied half seriously

'We have alcohol inside' Lauren suggested and he sighed

'I just want to go out, get away from here' he told her

Lauren pulled her hand out of his 'Away from me' she said and she stood up

'No Lauren that's not what I meant' he called after her as she headed back towards the house,

'Yeah well that's what it sounded like' she replied, 'If you can't bear to be around me now when things are okay what is it going to be like if things get bad?' she frowned as she spun round to look at him 'If you're going to go then go' she told him as he got out of the car

'Babe don't' he shook his head as he slammed the car and locked it and walked towards her 'you just need to try and see things from my point of view' he told her 'Let's get you inside before you get a cold' he told her and he put his arm around her and he led her back into the house. He shut the door and guided her to the lounge in front of the fire. He ran into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of towels and rushed back to her side 'let's get you out of these wet clothes' he said as he started to peel her shirt off. He soon had her stripped to her underwear, he pulled the blanket off the sofa and wrapped it around her and started to rub her hair with the towel.

'You got wet too' she said and Joey looked at her

'I'm not worried about me' he told her and he draped the towel around her neck and he poured two scotches, he handed the small one to Lauren and then drank his down in one. 'Sit in front of the fire' he told her 'Get warm and I'll run upstairs and get you some dry clothes' he paused by the drinks cabinet and poured another generous helping of scotch and took it upstairs with him, he was only gone for five minutes but when he came back the glass was empty. He had a towel around his neck and had changed into a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, he put some clothes for Lauren on the sofa before he poured another scotch.

'I didn't know that you still had that t-shirt' Lauren said as she looked at the shirt she had given him on their first Valentine's Day.

'Yeah course I have. You gave it to me'

'I know that. You haven't worn it for a while'

'I don't want it to fade' he told her

'Joey I'm going to be okay' she told him, he didn't look convinced 'I got through the accident didn't I?' she asked him

'Barely. You died on the operating table' he reminded her 'you were in a coma for a month'

'I know that, but…'

'But nothing, I was the one who sat by your bedside every single day, who spent every single night with you'

'I know…'

'I thought you were going to die Lauren' he said to her 'and yes okay you survived even when the doctors said that you wouldn't, what if this time you don't?' he asked her 'I can't imagine spending the rest of my life without you'

'Then you find someone else' she told him

'You don't get it do you?' he frowned at her 'I don't want anyone else' he said to her 'I don't want to spend the rest of my life with someone else, I want to spend it with you' he told her 'Why is that so hard for you to understand' he asked her 'You just think that I'll get over you and move onto someone else?' he said as he poured another scotch. Lauren's hand covered the top of the glass as he started to raise it to his lips.

'What if I do get rid of the baby and they run their scans and tests and they tell us that it isn't cancerous, that it's just a tiny tumour and that all I need is radiotherapy?' she asked him 'We've already lost three babies, I don't want lose another one, and I don't want to make the decision to terminate this pregnancy' she looked up at him 'Please Joey….'

He sighed and he put the glass down 'You are supposed to be getting warmed up by the fire' he told her, he turned her round and guided her back to the fire, she turned around in his arms

'This could be the last chance that we have to have another baby' she said 'What if I can't get pregnant again or if I have more miscarriages, I'm 39 years old…'

'So another baby is more important that being with me?'

'No that's not what I'm saying. I want both' she told him fresh tears rolling down her cheeks 'I can have both'

'Don't cry' Joey pulled her into his arms 'Ssh babe don't cry' he kissed the top of her head gently, he rocked her gently and after a while she pulled away to look up at him

'You know that I don't want to leave you Joey' she told him' 'I've been in love with you from the first time that I saw you. I'm stronger than I look, you told me that once do you remember?'

'I remember but…'

'No buts' she shook her head and her eyes fell to his lips and she moved forward and she pressed her lips against his softly 'I'll be okay, promise'

'You don't know that, you can't know that' he murmured

'I could get hit by a bus tomorrow' she said to him 'Does that mean that you are not going to let me leave the house?'

'No of course not' he said to her

'Look I'm just asking you not to look at the worst case scenario that's all. Try to see things from my point of view' she told him

'I do see things from your point of view' he told her 'but it's not going to be the end of the world if we don't have another baby, we already have four children and I can live without having another child Lauren' he told her as he tucked her wet hair behind her ear, 'but I can't live without you. My world would end if you died' he whispered '16 years isn't enough time' he shook his head 'I want more time with you' he said 'I don't want to wake up without you beside me, I don't want there to ever be a time when I am not able to kiss you, to hold you, to tell you that I love you, to hear you tell me that you love me, to never be able to make love to you again' he told her, his tears rolled down his face, Lauren swallowed, Joey didn't cry often, his child hood with Derek taught him that it wasn't a manly thing to do, he tried not to cry when he was upset, she could count on the fingers of one hand the amount of times she had seen him cry.

'I'm sorry' she whispered quietly, she wrapped her arms around his neck, her blanket fell to the floor 'I'm sorry' she repeated as he returned the embrace 'I love you' she turned her face to his neck and pressed soft kisses to it, along his jaw line and then finally to his lips. The kiss grew deeper and he pulled her closer to him, clothes were pulled off and discarded as they moved onto the floor in front of the fire, kissing each other hungrily.

Joey moved over her and sank into her in one swift movement, causing them both to moan in unison, he began a relentless pace as Lauren's nails dug into his back hard enough to draw blood. He groaned as she arched up against him with a tiny cry.

Joey lips moved against her neck, sucking the skin hard, nipping it with his teeth.

Just as Lauren was close to her peak he rolled them so that she was on top and his hands moved to her hips guiding her movements, slowing her down.

'Joey..' she whined

'Not yet babe' he told her, she knew that he wanted them to reach their peak together so she slowed her movements, they held each other's gaze as they moved in a perfect synchronised rhythm, Joey groaned loudly 'Like that Lauren… fuck… just like that' he said. He slid his hands down to her thighs and 'that's so good …. Fuck Lauren that is so fucking good' he closed his eyes and he felt her hands on top of his, they threaded their fingers together and then she tugged gently and he sat up, their movements stopped as they kissed, tongues duelling together, they broke their hands apart and Lauren's hands fisted in his hair and Joey's hands moved back to her hips as he started to guide her movements again, her breathy moans and soft groans told Joey that she was close and he turned them again and he pounded into her.

'Lauren baby!' he cried out as she exploded around him, setting off his own climax.

He collapsed on top of her spent and exhausted and she held him tightly as they both caught their breath.

'Wow!' Joey exclaimed 'We haven't done that in a while' he said

'No we haven't' Lauren replied 'and I know that's been my fault I haven't felt like..'

'That's not what I meant' he told her 'You haven't been feeling well' he said and he brushed her hair away from her face and he smiled down at her 'we've both been busy and tired after a long day at work' he said and he kissed the tip if her nose softly

'I've missed you..this with you'

'Me too' Joey nodded told her 'We're so good at this'

Lauren giggled 'We've had a lot of practice over the last 18 years or so'

'Yeah we have' he grinned back at her, he grew serious suddenly 'I love you so damned much Lauren' he told her

'I love you too Joey' she replied softly and she drew him into a brief kiss. Joey felt himself growing hard again, even at 42, the woman beneath him could make him feel like twenty year old again, he wanted her again and judging by the surprised grin on her face, she wanted him again too.

He was more than happy to oblige.

**AN: Thanks for all the reviews, thank you for reading. Glad that you like this story. **

**R&R as always**


	26. Chapter 26

Lauren and Joey lay naked together on the rug in front of the roaring fire, limbs entangled. Neither of them had spoken for a while but the silence wasn't awkward or comfortable, they were content just lying there together. After a while Lauren shifted against Joey

'Are you cold babe?' he asked her softly

'Mmm, no' she shook her head

'Are you sure? We can go to bed?' he suggested

'I like it here' she replied with a smile 'We haven't done this for a while either'

'No not since the twins were 3' he said 'It's a bit difficult now that the kids are older, I think they be a little shocked and disgusted if they found us like this' he told her

Lauren giggled 'They'd probably be shocked and disgusted by a lot of the things that we've done' she told him, she smiled as she sat up

'Where are you going?' he asked her

'Bathroom' she told him 'I'll be back in a minute'

'We could relocate to the bedroom, be more comfortable'

'I'm comfortable right here' she said with a smile 'I will be back in a minute' she told him again and she moved forward and kissed him softly.

Joey watched his wife walk naked towards the stairs and she disappeared.

He laughed softly to himself and he got up and he made a bed on the floor with the cushions from the sofa and he got the blanket off the back of the sofa. He locked the back door and turned off the lights apart from the lamp before laying back down on the floor. He waited for Lauren to return, his eyes focused on the door, ten minutes later she came back, she was holding their robes in her arms and she lay them down on the sofa

'I like what you've done here' she said with a smile

'Yeah?' he asked her and she nodded

'It's very romantic'

'I was going for romantic' he said as she lay down beside him,

'You think that you're going to get lucky again?' she asked him 'You already have….twice' she told him as she kissed his shoulder, he raised his arm and put it around her and she lay her head on his shoulder to look at him

'I'm going for the hat trick' he grinned at her

'Are you now?' she smiled

'Mmhmm' he said and he stroked her cheek and he moved onto his side and then he kissed her softly. 'How do you feel?' he asked her

'I'm fine Joey. No headache, no nausea…I feel fine' she replied

Joey looked at her and he brushed his fingers over her forehead and down her nose. 'You promise me that you are going to be okay?' he asked her, she blinked and nodded, Joey licked his lips and he closed his eyes briefly

'I promise' she told him 'I am going to be fine and the baby is too' she told him softly

He looked down at her and he ran his hand down over her throat, over her breast, his thumb brushing over her nipple and then his hand spanned her stomach. He moved down her body and he kissed her stomach gently.

'You better be because if you're not I am going to be really, really pissed at you!' he told her and he kissed her stomach again

'Are you saying what I think you are saying?' she asked him, he looked up at her and met her tearful gaze.

'Yes' he nodded, he kissed his way up her body, pausing to take a nipple into his mouth and sucking on it gently and then he kissed her lips softly 'You know I can never say no to you' he told her 'You have me under your spell' he told her

'Joey…' she wrapped her arms around his neck and he let her roll him on to his back and she straddled him 'Are you sure?'

'Yes' he nodded 'I'm trusting you not to break your promise to me' he said

'I won't' she told him, I swear I won't' she murmured as she kissed him and they melted into each other again.

The next morning they got up, showered and dressed and then Joey went downstairs to make some breakfast. He was pleased when Lauren cleared her plate and then ate half of his too.

'Looks like someone got their appetite back hey?' he asked her with a grin.

'Yes I guess so, I am so hungry' she told him

'Do you want some more?' he asked her as he got up 'I can make you some more?' he looked at her expectantly.

'I do but I don't want to be sick either, which I might be if I eat any more' she admitted to him

'All right, so tell me what do you want to do today baby?' he sat down again

'Can we go to the square?' she asked him 'Spend the day there, have lunch in the Vic like we used to?'

'Yeah of course we can' he nodded

'Maybe we can have dinner at the restaurant?'

'Yeah we can do that' Joey smiled at her

'We should probably clear up the breakfast things' she said looking around

'I'll do that' he said

'We can do it together' she smiled at him

'Okay'

**AN: So Joey has given into Lauren as he always does. And Lauren appears to be feeling better! **

**So what happens next….read on to find out..**

**Thanks for all your reviews R&R as always. **


	27. Chapter 27

Over the next four months, the kids helped out more around the house with chores and Hope was a godsend to Lauren, always catering for her every need… well that was when Joey wasn't around and there were some needs that only Joey was equipped to cater for.

They had grown closer than ever and Lauren couldn't remember a time when she had felt this happy and this contented. She loved Joey more than she even had and she knew that he did too.

They had an encounter with Hannah in the club a three months earlier. Joey had to go in to cover as there was a sickness bug going around and Lauren insisted that she would go in to help him. She was taking her break from serving behind the bar and she was seated at the end watching her husband working, he was wearing his tight white shirt that showed off his muscular frame to a tee. She got aroused just watching him working. When he bent down to pick up a bottle top lid that he dropped she couldn't help but ogle his nice firm shapely rear.

'He's a hottie isn't he' someone said sitting beside her at the bar 'He's also very married or so he leads you to believe'

'Is that right?' Lauren asked as she turned to look at the woman who had seated herself beside her.

'He'll flirt with you until the cows come home, make you think that you stand a chance and that you are the most beautiful woman that he's ever seen and then he throws the marriage card on the table'

'He is a flirt' Lauren nodded 'And he does make you feel like the most beautiful woman that he's ever seen' she agreed

'I'm Hannah' the woman said and she held out her hand to Lauren

'Nice to meet you' Lauren said knowingly 'can I get you a drink?'

'You work here?' Hannah asked

'I do, I'm on a break but I can get you a drink' she said to her

'White wine please' Hannah replied.

Lauren got up and she took her drink with her and she moved behind the bar. She was fixing a drink when Joey came over to her

'What are you doing?' he frowned at her

'Fixing a drink for Hannah' Lauren replied and she looked at Joey 'I have to say Joey she's not what I expected, she is very beautiful'

'I can throw her out' he said to her

Lauren smiled at him 'Oh no baby' she shook her head 'I'm going to put her in her place' she told him. Joey swallowed and watched Lauren go back to Hannah. Hannah waved at him and Joey turned away and started to serve more customers.

'He didn't look pleased with you' Hannah said

'Joey's bark is worse than his bite' Lauren replied as she gave Hannah her drink

'You know him?'

'Yeah we worked together here years ago' she said to her 'We both used to live in Albert Square' she took a sip of her drink 'so you and Joey?'

'Non-starter' she replied 'I thought I was getting somewhere on a few occasions but he would always bring up the married with kids line and that he just wanted to be friends. I was certain that he wanted to sleep with me' she frowned 'I bet he's amazing in the sack' she said as she ogled him

'I have it on good authority that he's still in love with his wife' Lauren said 'They have four kids and another one on the way' she said

'Really?' Hannah asked 'He's what 35, 36?'

'42' Lauren replied

'Wow he looks good for his age' Hannah took a sip of her wine and she watched Joey work 'I bet he works out' Lauren glanced over at him and she smiled enjoying the view as he bent over again and then reached up to get something off a high shelf.

Joey came over to them 'your break ended five minutes ago, I could do with a hand back here we're getting slammed!' he told Lauren

'And yet' Lauren sighed and she picked up her drink and took a sip 'I'm taking an extended break of you don't like it, fire me' she said to him her eyes sparkling mischievously

'I'll do more than fire you if you don't get your arse behind this bar in the next five minutes' he told her with a frown

Lauren smiled at him 'Mmhmm' she said 'There's some punters down the end waving notes around. You should probably go serve them' Lauren told him

He narrowed his eyes at her but he went off and served them. He shot her annoyed looks every few seconds and Lauren sighed 'I guess I better go help him before he throws a major strop' she said and she slid off her seat. 'Nice talking to you Hannah' she said as she walked behind the bar.

'Nice talking to you too…I'm sorry I didn't get your name' she said to her

'It's Lauren, Lauren Branning' she told her

'Oh are you related to Joey?'

'You could say that' Lauren nodded as she logged back onto the till 'Joey's my husband' Hannah paled considerably 'and if I were you I'd finish that drink and I wouldn't show my face in here again'

'Feel threatened?' Hannah asked her

'By you? Please' Lauren looked her up and down 'Joey wouldn't sleep with you if his life depended on it, besides why would he want to go slumming with you a tart like you when he has the best sex of his life at home with me and I'm quoting him on that' Lauren said and she turned and she walked over to Joey. Joey smiled at her and he slid his arm around her shoulders as she squeezed passed him, Hannah watched as his hand grazed her bottom.

She stayed for ten minutes and watched them together, the touches and caresses that he gave her every time she moved passed him, the way that he would watch her when she was serving someone or at the till. She finished her drink and she got up and left.

Back to the present day and Lauren got up in the middle of the night, she had been feeling progressively unwell for the past 4 days, and much to her amazement she had successfully hidden this from Joey and the kids, she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, she opened the fridge looking for something to eat, of course everything that she fancied to eat she wasn't allowed to have, her eyes wandered over the forbidden delights in the fridge, cheese, Joey's famous chocolate mousse, sushi. He mouth watered.

She reached into the fridge and she pulled out the chocolate mousse and grabbed a spoon from the drawer and she took a huge mouthful, relishing the taste and the texture as she let it melt in her mouth.

'Mmmm yum' she murmured licking her lips, she grabbed the sushi and carried her forbidden food the lounge and settled awkwardly on the floor.

After she had eaten she felt a sharp pain, she rolled to her hands and knees to get up and go and find Joey when she felt her waters break. She frowned in annoyance that she had ruined the rug, she got to hand feet as another severe pain ripped through her causing her to cry out, she suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to push, she frowned and she reached to feel between her legs and she felt the baby's head was already crowning.

'JOEY!' she cried out as she pushed 'Shit!' she frowned as she felt the baby move. The contractions were hard and strong and were barely separated by any time at all. 'JOE…..' her shout was cut off as the pain hit her again.

Five minutes later Lauren gave birth to her baby girl, alone on the lounge rug, her placenta followed a few minutes after. The baby wasn't crying or moving, she ran to the kitchen and got some towels and a pair of scissors and looked for something to clamp the umbilical cord with, but she couldn't find anything she rushed back to the baby and she picked up her daughter and she wrapped her in the towel with the placenta and she rushed up the stairs to the bedroom, she flicked the main light on and Joey groaned and he covered his eyes with his arm.

'Joey!' she hissed at him

'Mmmm' he frowned 'Go to sleep Lauren' he grumbled

'Joey..wake up….the baby…'

'The baby is fine go to sleep' he rolled over in the bed 'I'll go in a minute' Lauren rolled her eyes and she frowned at him and she looked at the lifeless body of her baby.

She put her down on the bed and she rushed to her office and found a bulldog clip, returning to the bedroom, she unwrapped the baby and clasped the clip over the cord, she raised the scissors and cut the cord and then she rubbed the baby until she gave a loud shriek. Joey woke with a start and she rubbed his eyes

'What was that?' he asked in confusion as Lauren wrapped the baby up again and left the umbilical cord on a towel on the duvet.

'Now you wake up!' Lauren rolled her eyes and she climbed into the bed and she started to suckle the baby 'can you phone an ambulance please?' she asked him

'Ambulance?' he frowned as she sat up, Lauren glanced down and saw she was losing a lot of blood, the pulled the duvet up over her legs 'Why?'

'Because I just had the baby Joey…can you call an ambulance please?' she asked him.

'I'll take you to the hospital we have time' he said as he walked into the bathroom barely awake.

Lauren shot him a disbelieving look and she leant over to grab the phone, the baby lost her nipple and started to cry as Lauren dialled 999. Joey heard the noise from the bathroom and he frowned, he finished what he was doing and he flushed the toilet and he opened the door and stared at Lauren as she spoke on the phone.

'You had the baby' he said when she hung up

'Well done you' Lauren frowned at him

'When …'

'About fifteen minutes ago' she said to him 'The ambulance is on its way'

'Is she okay?' Joey asked as he climbed back on to the bed and he leant over to look at her, 'Oh…' he gasped

'She has ten fingers and ten toes and only one head …she looks good to me' Lauren told him 'You should go wake up Hope tell her what's happened and then go downstairs to wait for the ambulance' she told him

'Okay' he said with a smile 'and how are you? Do you feel okay?'

'I'm okay' she lied not wanting to tell him that she was still bleeding quite badly.

Joey rushed out of the room, closing the door behind him and then he came back in, Lauren looked up at him as he crossed over to her and he gave her a hard kiss.

'I love you and thank you for another beautiful daughter' he told her and then he was gone again.

Lauren rolled her eyes and she looked down at her suckling daughter, she flipped the duvet back and she watched the blood seeping into the sheets, she began to feel a little lightheaded and dizzy. She prayed that the ambulance was going to get there in time.

A few minutes later she heard the door open and then footsteps coming up the stairs, two paramedics appeared and one of them took the baby and the other saw to Lauren. Joey stood by the bed, not wanting to get in the way.

'How are you feeling Mrs Branning?' she was asked

'I'm still bleeding' she told him, he flipped the duvet off her and he looked at the blood pooling.

'You've delivered the placenta?' he asked and she nodded

'The towel on the bed' she said, he left her side briefly to look at the bloodied towel. He exchanged glances with his colleague and then the baby was handed off to Joey. He glanced at the blood and then at Lauren and he saw how pale and pasty she looked and he felt his heart pounding in his chest.

'Okay we need to get you to hospital as soon as possible. Are there any medical conditions that we need to know about?' he asked her

'I have a pituitary tumour, diagnosed when I was five months pregnant' she told him 'When they told me I was five months pregnant'

The paramedic nodded 'Okay' he said 'I am going to go and get some things from the ambulance, my colleague is going to stay with you okay?'

'Okay' Lauren nodded

Ten minutes later, she was in an ambulance with the sirens blaring being raced to the hospital.

**AN: What's happened? Why is Lauren bleeding so much? **

**What is going to happen next? **

**Read on to find out **

**Thanks for all your reviews R&R as always **


	28. Chapter 28

Joey sat in the waiting room as his wife and daughter had been taken away by doctors. Their daughter had suddenly turned blue briefly in the ambulance and Lauren had lost consciousness due to her blood loss.

His head was in his hands and he was taking deep calming breaths. This was all too familiar to him. This was all too familiar of the time he had come here when Lauren had been pregnant with Hope and she was hit by a car, she was rushed away from him then too and all he could do was wait.

No one was talking to him.

No one was telling him anything.

He had no idea what was happening with his wife or with his daughter, only that they were both being seen to by doctors.

He let out a deep breath and he looked at his watch, the watch that Lauren had brought him for Valentine's Day nearly 18 years ago. It was 3:30am. He wondered if he should call his mum, Lauren's parents to let them know what was going on. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and stood up, pacing the floor as he debated about who to call first, when a doctor walked in

'Mr Branning?' he asked him

'Yes' he said 'How are my wife and daughter?'

'Your daughter is doing fine, she's in the nursery; you have a very healthy baby girl'

'God thank you and Lauren?'

'Your wife suffered severe blood loss' he said as he gestured for Joey to sit down, Joey took a deep breath and he feared the worst as the doctor continued to speak 'your wife had a placental abruption, part of it broke off when she was giving birth and didn't deliver and remained inside her, this was why she continued to bleed so heavily, her uterus couldn't contract…. We need to take her into surgery and we need you to sign some consent forms

'Surgery?' Joey asked him with a frown as he looked down at the clipboard he had been given scanning through the words

'We managed to deliver the rest of the placenta, but nothing we've done has stopped the bleeding, your wife needs an emergency hysterectomy' he told him

'And then will she be okay?' he asked him

'Hopeful yes' the doctor nodded 'Barring any complications'

'And what about her tumour?'

'We're going to do some scans when she is out of surgery and when we have the results of those we will see how we are going to proceed' he said as Joey signed the consent forms and handed the clipboard back to the doctor.

Joey nodded 'Okay' he said softly 'Can I see my daughter?'

'Yes' he nodded and he smiled at Joey 'I'll take you to her' he told him

Three hours later Joey was still waiting for Lauren to come back from surgery, he and his new daughter were taken to a room on the maternity wing and were waiting for her to be brought in. He had bottle fed his daughter and changed her nappy and now she was sleeping contentedly in his arms in the chair. He looked up at Lauren was wheeled in

'Hello again Mr Branning' the doctor said 'the surgery went well and Lauren is doing just fine, she's a little groggy from the surgery but we expect her to make a full recovery'

'And what about the brain scans?' he asked him

'The tumour isn't as large as we thought and we think that we should be able to shrink it with medication and perhaps radiotherapy' he told him 'We've started Lauren on some medication and hopefully when we have another look at the tumour in a week we should see some improvement.'

'Thank you, that's really great news' Joey said and he glanced at his wife 'Does she know about the hysterectomy?'

'No she wasn;t lucid enough for us to tell her'

'Can I tell her?' Joey asked him 'I think it would be better if it came from me?'

'Of course. We'll be in to check on Lauren in a while' he said and he walked out of the room. Joey waited while the nurses settled Lauren. When they left he put his daughter in her crib and he sat down on the bed next to Lauren, taking her hand in his.

She groaned and couple of times and licked her lips, before opening her eyes to stare into Joey's

'Hi baby' he whispered softly.

'Hey' she croaked back 'Where am I?'

'In the hospital' he told her 'Do you remember what happened?'

'I had the baby….' She frowned 'Is she okay?'

'Yes she's fine, she's sleeping' he told her 'Do you want to see her?' he asked her and she nodded and tried to sit up

'Ouch!' she frowned and grimaced with the pain

'Baby you have to be careful, you just came out of surgery' he told her

She frowned as her hand moved to her stomach where the cause of the pain was 'Why?'

Joey licked his lips 'How about you see our daughter first?' he asked her and Lauren nodded

Joey walked over to the crib and he picked her up and carried her over to Lauren, he carefully and gently put her in her arms. Lauren looked down at her and she smiled

'She's beautiful' Lauren said

'Yeah she is' Joey nodded 'We haven't got a name for her yet though' he said softly

'I know' Lauren said as she studied her 'Is she okay?'

'Perfectly healthy' Joey nodded 'She stopped breathing in the ambulance, turned blue but the paramedics got her breathing again, she's been checked over and given the all clear' Joey said as his fingers brushed the baby's cheek 'I've bottle fed her and changed her nappy' he said proudly 'And she fell asleep in my arms.

Lauren ticked her gaze to her husband's face and then back to the baby. 'Did you call people to let them know?'

'No not yet' he said 'I was waiting for you to come out of surgery before I made any calls' he looked at her

'When can we go home?' she asked him

'Not for a few days at least' Joey told her

'Why I thought you said the baby was okay?' her worried gaze met his

'She is, you on the other hand just had a major operation' he told her as he took the sleeping baby from her and he lay her back in the crib. He sat down on the bed and he took Lauren's hand in his 'You were bleeding a lot' he told her 'Part of the placenta was still inside you and your uterus couldn't contract to stop the bleeding, the doctors managed to deliver the rest of the placenta but they couldn't stop the bleeding' he told her softly, Lauren swallowed 'They told me that they had no other choice but to give you a hysterectomy' he told her 'I signed the consent forms' he said and he waited for her reaction

'Oh' Lauren said quietly and she looked down at their hands and she played with Joey's wedding ring. 'Is that okay?' Lauren asked him worriedly 'That I can't have any more children?'

'I'm 42 years old and my beautiful wife has given me five beautiful children' he told her softly 'What more can a man ask?' he said 'Of course it's okay'

Lauren looked up at him 'Really?'

'Yes really' he nodded 'I think five is enough don't you?'

She nodded 'yeah' she said 'It is' she glanced at the crib and then back at Joey

'Are you okay with it?' he asked her

She thought about it for a few moments and then she nodded

'Yes' she told him, Joey moved forward and he kissed her softly

'I love you so much you know that right?' he asked her

'I know and I love you too Joey' she whispered against his lips

'There's more, you had a scan on your head while you were out. The tumour is small and the doctors think that they can shrink it with medication perhaps radiotherapy' he told her

'Yeah?' she asked him and he smiled with a nod 'See? I told you that I would be okay' she said to him with a grin.

Joey laughed 'Yeah, yeah you did' he said and he kissed her again.

**AN: Thank you for all your reviews for this story. **

**As always R&R **

**thanks**


	29. Chapter 29

**AN: Just to forewarn you, this is the last chapter…enjoy. **

Lauren was in the hospital for five days while they made sure that her surgical wound healed properly. Baby Branning stayed too, as did Joey, just like he had when she had her car accident.

When she was released he carried the baby in the car seat whilst a nurse pushed Lauren in a wheelchair out of the hospital. She got out of the wheelchair and they walked slowly to the car. Joey opened the back seat and Lauren got in gingerly and then he fixed the car seat in the back next to her. He closed the door quietly and he got in the front seat and he drove them home.

'Are the kids all there?'

'Nope, Mum's got them until 4:00pm to give us enough time to get settled in' he told her

'Good' she said with a sigh 'I don't think I could handle a welcome home ambush' she said to him

Joey smiled and he drive them home.

Once inside Lauren looked around the house, it was clean and tidy and she was pleasantly surprised. The house was filled with flowers and Lauren smiled at the scent that filled the room.

'Do you want to go upstairs babe?' Joey asked her

'Please' she nodded, Joey went up first and he settled the baby in the crib in their room, Lauren came in and she sighed and sat down on the bed. Joey tool her shoes off and then he picked her up carefully and sat her down in the bed, plumping the pillow behind her, he pulled the duvet cover over her and she smiled at him

'Thank you' she said softly

'Can I get you anything?' he asked her

'A little uninterrupted alone time with my very handsome husband would be nice' Lauren told him

Joey grinned at her and he took off his shoes and socks and he climbed in to the bed beside her 'I think I can manage that' he told her 'You know we should think if a name for the baby. We can't keep calling her baby Branning' he said to her

'What about Ella?' Lauren asked him as he put his arm around her

'I don't like Ella' he said shaking his head 'I had a cat named Ella when I was a kid'

'What happened to it?'

'Derek ran over it with his car' Joey said

'Oh' Lauren frowned 'Well have you thought of any names?' she asked him

'How about Isobel Marie Branning' he said to her

'Ooh! I like that' she said and she smiled 'Isobel Branning'

'Yeah? So is that what I'm registering her as?'

'Yes' Lauren told him nodding her head. 'Isobel Marie Branning'

'I'll do it tomorrow' he smiled and he kissed her head 'Can I get you anything?' he asked her

'Nope, this is all I need' she told him 'at least until the kids get here' she said 'Then I might need some ear plugs'

Joey laughed 'or they might need some because of Isobel' he said

'Let's hope that she's a contended baby like Hope was' Lauren said to him

They talked and dozed until they heard the kids come out at four. They heard footsteps up the stairs as Joey was changing Isobel's nappy.

'There you go it that better you little stinky bum' Joey cooed at her as he picked her up and gave her to Lauren.

There was a light rap on the bedroom door and Joey smiled and he got up and opened it. Four eager children pushed their way into the room.

'Oh look she's so pretty' Hope said and she looked down at her baby sister 'Can I hold her?'

'Of course' Lauren said 'Just be careful with her, she's just been fed' Hope took her from Lauren 'Babe? Can you help me I need the bathroom' she said to Joey

Joey helped Lauren to the bathroom and he waited in the bathroom with her whilst she used the toilet, he helped her stand up again and he pulled up her maternity knickers that she had to wear in case of bleeding after surgery.

'Thank you baby' Lauren said as she washed her hands

'You're welcome' he replied

When they went back into the bedroom all the kids were sitting on the bed with Isobel in the middle and they were all cooing and pulling faces at her.

'Okay when she wakes up in the middle of the night having nightmares I want the four of you to remember this exact moment!' Joey told them playfully 'Come on pick her up mum needs to get back into bed.

'How do you feel mum?' Hope asked her

'I'm okay' she said nodding her head 'A little sore but that'll pass'

'Dad said you had to have a hysterectomy' Hope said

'Yep' Lauren nodded 'No more babies for me' she said 'I'll just rely on you to have babies of your own so I can play with them'

'But not until you are much much older' Joey added shooting Lauren a "are you crazy" look, Lauren just grinned at him.

Lauren looked at her family. She was happy. She held out her hand to Joey and he took it and he sat down on the bed next to her

'Thank you' she said to him

'For what?' he frowned at her

'Thank you for falling in love with me' she told him softly

Joey smiled at her 'Thank you for letting me'

Hope smiled as her parents kissed.

As the months passed, Lauren's tumour was successfully treated by the medication she was given and she healed well after her surgery, the kids doted over their baby sister and Joey and Lauren found that they were almost redundant in any care giving when it came to Isobel.

As the years passed the kids could see how much their parents were in love and they could only hope that they too found a love like theirs. Their parents were playful with each other, they had their fair share of rows and then they made up again (much to the embarrassment of their children) they had a very active and healthy sex life and for that they gave no apologies.

One by one their children moved out and married and had children of their own. Lauren was known as Nana Lo and Joey and Grampa Joe. And they adored their grandchildren, especially Hope's first born, a son she named Patrick.

In total they had 24 grandchildren.

Many many years later on Valentine's Day the kids all gathered to visit their parents. They left their husbands, wives and children at home on this one day. Today was for them. For their parents.

'Right are you all ready?' Hope said as she looked at her brothers and sisters

'Yes' they nodded as they all got out of the car. They walked the long pathway, and the route that they all knew by heart.

They paused and smiled 'Hi mum, hi dad' Hope said softly. She bent down and she lay a bouquet of pink carnations on the ground by the foot of the gravestone. 'Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Anniversary. We miss you and we love you' Hope said. They all sat down around the edge of the grave and began to tell their parents about what had happened in the past year.

Joey and Lauren had lived until they were 96 years old, and as they both promised each other, they died together, tucked up warm in their bed, wrapped in each other's arms.

** The End**

**AN: Thank you for all your reviews not just for this story but for the others that I have written. **

**Thank you for all for reading and for those of you who have taken the time to write your reviews, they have been very much appreciated. **

**Please R&R and let me know what you think of this final chapter. **

**Back soon with a new story…. **

**xxxx**


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